UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Dr.  ERNEST  C.  MOORE 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
1908-1910 


•The 
•>5 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO 
SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


WAGES  IN 
THE    UNITED    STATES 

1908-1910 


A   STUDY   OF   STATE   AND   FEDERAL 
WAGE   STATISTICS 


BY 


SCOTT   NEARING,  Ph.D 

Wharton  School,  University  of  Pennsylvania 

Author  of  "Social  Adjustment," 
"Solution  of  the  Child  Labor  Problem,"  etc. 


Well]  gork 

THE   MACMILLAN"   COMPANY 

1911 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,   191  i 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published   September,   191 1 


Printed  at 

The  NORWOOD  PRESS 

Berwick  &  Siuitli  Company,  Norwood,  Massachusetts 


PREFACE 

Since  Professor  R.  C.  Chapin  estimated  that 
a  New  York  family  consisting  of  a  man,   wife 
and  three  children   under  fourteen  could  main- 
tain "a  normal  standard,  at  least  so  far  as  the 
physical  man  is  concerned,"  on  an  annual  income 
y       of   $900,    speculation    has    been   rife   as   to   the 
N^    number  of  families  whose  incomes  equalled  that 
Sy     sum.     Controversy  was  futile.     No  recent  wage 
study  had  been  made,  and  aside  from  the  reports 
of  the  State  bureaus  of  labor,  which  were  popu- 
^     larly   supposed   to   contain   little   or  no   data  of 
2     importance,  no  available  wage  figures  existed. 
N  But  some  relation  must  be  established  between 

the  $900  efficiency  standard  and  the  wages 
(^  actually  paid  in  American  industry,  else  the 
Chapin  Study  would  lose  much  of  its  force. 
The  publication  of  a  Federal  Report  on  Wages 
in  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works  gave  the  needed 
impetus  and  we  plunged  into  the  work.  This 
"we"  is  used  advisedly, — not  editorially,  since 
Nellie  Marguerite  Seeds  Nearing  did  a  large 
amount  of  statistical  compilation;  Professor 
Robert  E.  Chaddock  proved  an  excellent  adviser 

[iii] 


PREFACE 

on  statistical  method;  and  Miss  Alice  E.  Roch6 
ably  directed  the  stenographic  work.  While, 
therefore,  the  present  study  is  published  under 
one  name,  it  is,  in  reality,  the  product  of  several 
persons,  all  of  whom  played  a  part  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  work.  I  therefore  take  this  occa- 
sion to  thank  them,  and  to  say  that  they  deserve 
a  large  measure  of  any  credit  that  may  attach 
to  this  product  of  our  cooperative  effort. 

Unfortunately,  this  cannot  prove  a  companion 
study  to  the  Chapin  Investigation.  The  New 
York  Bureau  of  Labor  publishes  the  wages  of 
union  members  only,  and  even  this  incomplete 
data  is  not  in  a  form  available  for  such  a  com- 
parison. Nevertheless,  the  evidence  here  adduced 
is  of  a  nature  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  a 
large  portion  of  American  workmen  are  unable 
to  maintain  an  efficiency  standard  of  living,  and 
to  justify  such  early  steps  as  will  result  in  the 
presentation  of  more  complete  wage  statistics. 
While  the  conclusions  here  set  down  are  by  no 
means  final,  they  are  based  upon  such  statistical 
proof  that  they  must  stand  until  overthrown  by 

additional  studies.  ^  ,, 

Scott  Nearing. 

Univehsitt  of  Pennstlvania, 
March  30,  1911. 

[iv] 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  WAGES  PROBLEM 

FAOE 

I.      "What  Are  Wages?" 1 

II.     The  Necessity  for  Wage  Statistics       ....         5 
III.     The  Available  Wage  Data 9 

CHAPTER  n 

STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 

I.     The  Scope  of  State  Wage  Statistics     ....       13 

II.    The  Methods  of  State  Wage  Reports    ....       16 

III.     The  Massachusetts  Method 18 

CHAPTER  III 
THE  WAGE  STATISTICS  OF    MASSACHUSETTS 


I.  Classified  Weekly  Earnings  by  Industries     . 

II.  Wages  by  Sex 

III.  The  Wages  of    "  Young  Persons  "    .      .     .      . 

IV.  Weekly  Wages  in  the  Four  Chief  Industries 
V.  Classified  Annual  Earnings  in  Massachusetts 

[v] 


28 
36 
39 

42 
49 


1^ 


JLm. 


CONTENTS 


II. 
III. 


IV. 


CHAPTER  IV 
WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

PAGE 

The  New  Jersey  Statistics  and  Those  op  Massa- 
chusetts        59 

The  Classified  Weekly  Wages  of  New  Jersey  .       60 

Classified  Weekly  Wages  in  the  Five  Industries 
Employing  the  Largest  Numbers  of  Wage 
Earners 62 

Annual  Earnings  in  New  Jersey 66 


CHAPTER  V 
KANSAS  WAGE  STATISTICS 


I.  The  Value  and  Scope  of  Kansas  Statistics    .     .  74 

II.  Wage  Grouping  in  the  Industries  of  Kansas      .  76 

III.  The  Statistics  of  Leading  Industries    ....  79 

IV.  Summary  of  Kansas  Wages 84 


CHAPTER  VI 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 


I.    The  Value  of  Special  Reports 88 

II.    The  Telephone  Industry  in  Milwaukee,  Wiscon- 
sin        90 

III.  The   Wages  of  Women  in  Illinois    Department 

Stores 93 

IV.  The  Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies   .     .  96 
V.    The  Bethlehem  Steel  Works  Investigation   .      .  108 

VI.     Some  Deductions 113 

[vi] 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  STATISTICS  OF  AVERAGE  WAGES 

I.  The  SIG^^FICANCE  of  a  Wage  Average  . 

II.  Methods  for  Computing  Average  Wages 

III.  Michigan,  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island 

IV.  Pennsylvania 

V.  Average  Wages  in  Massachusetts 

VI.  New  Jersey  Average  Wage  Statistics 

VII.  Federal  Statistics  of  Average  Wages 

VIII.  CoMPARATn'E  Average  Wages  . 

IX.  The  Statistics  of  Average  Wages    . 


PAGE 
116 

120 
121 
126 
131 
134 
138 
142 
144 


CHAPTER  VIII 

VARIATION  OF  WAGES  WITH    GEOGRAPHIC  LOCATION 

I.    The  Theory  of  Geographic  Variation  ....  147 

II.     Wages  from  One  Geographic  Area  to  Another  .  149 

III.  Wages  from  City  to  City 157 

IV.  Wages  from  Large  to  Small  Cities       ....  163 
V.     Geographic  Variation  in  Wages 167 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES  WITHIN    INDUSTRY 

I.     Specialized  Employments  and  the  Distribution  of 

Wages 170 

II.    Railroad  Wages 174 

III.  The  Special  Wage  Reports 179 

IV.  The  Material  from  State  Labor  Reports       .      .  184 
V.    The  Distribution  of  Wages  in  American  Industry  189 

[vii] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X 
WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES,   1908-1910 

FAOB 

I.    Unemployment  as  a  Modifying  Factor        .      .      .  192 
II.     Wage    Variation  with    Industry,    Sex,    Age    and 

Geographic  Location 202 

III.     Wages  in  the  United  States — Average  and  Actual  207 


[  viii  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
1908-1910 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  WAGES  PROBLEM 

I.    "What  Are  Wages?" 

IT  is  almost  impossible  to  delve  into  any 
modern  social  problem  without  being  con- 
fronted by  the  question,  "What  are  wages?" 
Here  is  a  man  with  a  wife  and  four  children, 
living  in  an  insanitary,  tumble-down  tenement. 
The  woman  has  rheumatism;  the  children  croup 
and  rickets.  Obviously,  the  family  ought  to 
move  to  a  better  dwelling.  The  rent  is  overdue, 
however,  and  if  they  move,  the  landlord  will  levy 
on  the  furniture;  the  grocer's  and  butcher's  bills 
are  large  and  cannot  be  met;  moreover,  to  move 
means  either  to  go  into  an  equally  cheap,  bad 
house  somewhere  else,  or  to  pay  more  rent.  How 
can  this  family  pay  more  rent  than  the  present 

[1] 


WAGES  IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 

$2.25  per  week?  The  father  earns  $9  as  a  laborer 
in  a  lead  works.  Of  late  years  he  has  been  ailing, 
— lead  poisoning,  they  say,  and  with  the  doctor 
and  medicine  bills,  the  balance,  after  paying  the 
present  rent,  is  scarcely  large  enough  to  buy  food. 
Then,  too,  work  is  not  steady.  During  some 
weeks,  the  lead  works  is  closed  two  or  three  days, 
and  instead  of  making  $9  the  man  earns  $6  and 
sometimes  $4.50.    But  the  rent  stays  at  $2.25. 

If  the  man  had  always  earned  higher  wages, 
he  would  never  have  been  reduced  to  living  in 
such  a  vile  hovel.  In  fact,  when  he  was  first 
married,  he  lived  in  a  respectable  little  cottage, 
for  which  he  paid  $15  a  month.  But  the  children 
came,  and  by  the  time  there  were  four  of  them 
it  seemed  necessary  to  move  in  order  to  cut 
expenses.  So  the  family  came  here.  Even  now 
a  rise  in  wages  would  enable  them  to  live  better, 
but  that  rise  does  not  come. 

The  children,  too,  feel  the  burden  of  low  wages 
and  bad  quarters.  The  oldest  boy  (thirteen)  sells 
papers.  He  has  already  learned  to  beg;  and  the 
other  day,  after  making  a  raid  on  a  freight  car 
loaded  with  bananas,  he  found  himself,  with  two 
of  his  companions,  securely  lodged  in  the  station- 
house.    He  is  no  worse  than  the  average  boy,  but 

[2] 


THE  WAGES  PROBLEM 

he  was  hungry — in  fact,  since  the  last  two  chil- 
dren came  and  the  family  began  its  dry  bread  and 
coffee  diet,  his  stomach  has  been  constantly  quot- 
ing Oliver  Twist's  famous  saying:  "Please,  sir,  I 
want  some  more." 

The  two  girls,  ten  and  eight,  are  ill-dressed  and 
ragged.  They  do  not  make  a  good  appearance 
at  school  (their  brother  ceased  to  attend  last  year 
for  that  reason).  They  feel  uncomfortable, — so 
uncomfortable  that  they  are  not  benefiting  par- 
ticularly by  the  geography  and  mental  arithmetic 
which  are  administered  daily  in  liberal  quantities. 
The  whole  family  has  been  living  an  indecently 
crowded  life, — eating,  washing,  dressing  and  sleep- 
ing in  three  small  rooms,  therefore  these  girls  are 
"wise."  Their  learning,  not  of  the  books,  is 
amazing  in  extent  and  is  readily  available.  Upon 
meeting  other  women,  eight  and  ten  years  of  age, 
they  constantly  employ  this  learning  in  appalling 
conversations. 

A  higher  wage  would  provide  this  family  with 
food,  clothing,  a  good  house  of  decent  size,  medi- 
cines, attendance;  for  the  mother  is  a  good  man- 
ager, and  the  father  a  hard-working  and  sober, 
though  a  sick  man.  The  children  would  attend 
school  decently  clad,  and  would  lead  decent  lives 

[3] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

at  home.  The  question  therefore  very  naturally 
arises, — "How  many  men  in  the  United  States 
are  receiving  wages  which  force  them  and  their 
families  to  live  under  such  abnormally  bad  con- 
ditions?" 

A  glance  at  another  phase  of  the  problem  leads 
to  the  same  question.  A  recent  New  York  in- 
vestigation concludes  with  the  statement  that  a 
man,  wife  and  three  children  under  fourteen  can- 
not live  and  maintain  efficiency  on  Manhattan 
Island  for  less  than  nine  hundred  dollars  per 
year.^  While  no  similar  studies  have  been  made 
in  other  cities,  superficial  investigations  show 
that  this  figure  is  not  excessive  for  Boston,  Buffalo 
and  Chicago;  that  it  is  low  for  Pittsburg,  and 
probably  a  little  high  for  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore.  In  other  words,  it  is  a  fair  average 
for  the  great  cities  east  of  the  Mississippi  and 
north  of  Virginia. 

A  student  peruses  this  investigation  and  glee- 
fully presents  its  conclusion  to  his  "practical" 
friend.  The  practical  friend  is  immediately  con- 
vinced.     "That  sounds   well   enough,"   says  he, 

^  "Standard  of  Living  among  Workingmen's  Families  in  New 
York  City."  Robert  C.  Chapin.  New  York  Charities  Pub.  Com., 
1909,  pp.  245-6. 

[4] 


THE  WAGES  PROBLEM 

"but  I  don't  suppose  there  are  many  families  of 
five  that  are  forced  to  live  on  so  low  a  wage." 
The  student  ponders  for  a  moment,  and  then 
replies,  "Well,  I  really  can't  say.  There  is  no 
study  which  shows  what  wages  really  are." 

And  so  for  a  dozen  pages,  problem  after  prob- 
lem might  be  stated,  which,  in  the  last  analysis, 
depends  for  its  solution  upon  an  answer  to  that 
question, — "What  are  wages.'^" 

11.  The  Necessity  for  Wage  Statistics 

Thus,  an  attempt  to  answer  the  question — 
"What  are  wages .^",  has  led  to  this  collection  of 
material  on  "Wages  in  the  United  States."  There 
are  at  least  three  directions  in  which  such  a  study, 
if  carefully  made,  would  be  of  supreme  impor- 
tance,— first,  in  the  discussion  of  wage  theories; 
second,  in  the  discussion  of  the  cost  of  living; 
and,  finall3%  in  the  problems  arising  out  of  the 
standard  of  living  investigations.  The  constant 
demand  for  the  facts  in  any  one  of  these  fields 
would  justify  their  presentation  in  this  work;  the 
aggregate  necessity  of  the  three  problems  makes 
the  presentation  of  the  statistics  of  wages  ulti- 
mately imperative. 

The  development  of  the  "wage  system"  has 
[5] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

forced  wages  into  the  foreground  of  theoretical 
discussion.  At  least  two-thirds  of  those  gainfully- 
employed  in  the  United  States  are  employed  for 
wages;  so  that  the  population  of  the  United 
States  may  well  be  described  as  a  "wage-earning" 
group.  A  small  percentage  of  the  population  is 
dependent  upon  income  from  securities  and  in- 
vestments (mortgages,  bonds,  land,  and  the  like) ; 
another  small  percentage,  though  a  decreasing 
one,  is  dependent  upon  profits  from  private  busi- 
ness; there  is  a  small  class  of  persons  employed 
for  stated  annual  salaries;  somewhat  less  than 
one-third  of  those  gainfully  employed  are  deriv- 
ing an  income  direct  from  agriculture,  leaving 
approximately  two-thirds  of  the  gainfully  em- 
ployed population  earning  incomes  in  the  form 
of  daily,  weekly  or  monthly  wages.  Hence,  wages 
are  the  means  chiefly  relied  upon,  as  a  return  for 
industrial  effort  (work),  to  provide  the  necessa- 
ries of  life  to  the  population  of  the  United  States. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  economic  theorist, 
wages  are  one  share,  and  a  troublous  share,  in  the 
distribution  of  the  values  produced  through  in- 
dustry. Together  with  rent,  profits  and  interest, 
they  constitute  the  elements  in  distribution.  The 
economic  literature  which  deals  with  wage  theory 

[6] 


THE  WAGES  PROBLEM 

is  most  voluminous  and  inconclusive.  Could  an 
accurate  measure  be  had  of  the  facts,  a  more 
satisfactory  body  of  wage  theory  might  well  be 
created.  While  this  chapter  merely  aims  to  indi- 
cate the  possible  uses  of  wage  statistics,  it  is 
impossible  to  pass  by  the  question  of  wage  theory 
without  insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  reaching 
some  measure  of  agreement  regarding  the  under- 
lying causes  which  are  operating  to  maintain  or 
to  change  wages.  A  statement  of  wage  facts  may, 
perhaps,  assist  somewhat  in  hastening  that  agree- 
ment. 

Important  as  wage  facts  are,  from  a  theoretical 
standpoint,  they  have  an  even  more  vital  applica- 
tion to  the  "cost  of  living"  and  "standard  of 
living"  problems.  The  heated  discussions  which 
have  recently  appeared  in  theoretical  treatises, 
popular  magazines  and  daily  papers  over  the 
relation  of  wages  and  the  cost  of  living  indicate 
the  universal  interest  which  is  felt  in  the  problem. 
The  facts  regarding  the  cost  of  living  can  be  gath- 
ered with  a  reasonable  degree  of  accuracy  by  an 
examination  of  Bradstreet's  Review  of  Wholesale 
Prices.  The  facts  regarding  wages  are  well-nigh 
inaccessible.  Hence,  statements  of  the  relation 
between  wages  and  the  cost  of  living  are  faulty 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

in  that  the  wage  statistics  employed  are  incom- 
plete. The  cost  of  living  discussions  would  be  of 
far  greater  value  could  they  promise  some  general 
wage  facts. 

The  same  statement  holds  true  in  the  discus- 
sions of  the  "standard  of  living,"  a  sum  of  eco- 
nomic goods  large  enough  to  permit  a  family  to 
maintain  its  physical  eflSciency.  At  the  very 
outset  the  necessity  arises  of  establishing  some 
relation  between  the  wage  received  and  such  an 
amount  of  economic  goods  as  will  maintain  effi- 
ciency. In  this  endeavor,  success  obviously 
depends  upon  the  ability  to  place  side  by  side  a 
statement  of  the  amount  of  goods  necessary  to 
maintain  efficiency  and  of  the  amount  of  wages 
which  families  receive.  A  number  of  recent 
studies  have  shown,  pretty  clearly,  what  amount 
of  economic  goods  is  necessary  to  maintain  a 
standard  of  efficiency.  It  remains,  however,  to 
ascertain  what  portion  of  the  wage  earners  in  the 
community  receive  wages  sufficient  to  maintain 
such  a  standard. 

Whether,  therefore,  the  discussion  is  of  the 
relation  between  wages  and  the  cost  of  living,  or 
between  wages  and  a  standard  of  living,  the 
question  must  finally  be  answered:  "What  are 

[8] 


THE   WAGES  PROBLEM 

wages?",  for  neither  discussion  can  proceed  satis- 
factorily without  some  reply  to  that  fundamental 
proposition. 

III.   The  Available  Wage  Data 

For  years  I  have  been  constantly  baffled  in  my 
investigation  of  these,  as  well  as  other  social  and 
economic  problems,  by  the  lack  of  knowledge  on 
this  subject.  At  every  turn,  the  need  arose  for 
an  accurate,  concise  statement  of  the  wages  being 
paid  in  the  various  parts  of  the  United  States, 
yet  to  date  no  study  has  been  made  which  sup- 
plies the  need.  Ryan's  Estimate^  is  old,  and  at 
best  incomplete;  Mrs.  More's  statement,^  like 
the  statement  in  the  1903  Report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor,^  is  of  standards  of  living  pri- 
marily, and  only  incidentally  of  wages.  In  neither 
case  is  the  ground  covered  sufficiently  to  warrant 
valuable  wage  deductions.  The  Wage  Study 
accompanying  the  Census  of  1900  *  is  old,  and 
rather   inadequate,  as   the  compilers   themselves 

^  "Living  Wage."    J.  A.  Ryan.     New  York,  Macmillan  Co.,  1906. 

2  "Wage  Earners'  Budgets."    L.  B.  More.     New  York,  Holt,  1907. 

'  Annual  Report  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1903.  Washing- 
ton, 1904. 

*  Census  of  1900.  Special  volume  on  Employees  and  Wages. 
Washington,  1903. 

[9] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

point  out.  Not  only  is  there  a  lack  of  material 
in  the  past,  but,  so  far  as  could  be  learned,  there 
is  little  disposition  to  collect  wage  statistics  in 
the  immediate  future.  Upon  inquiry  I  learned 
that  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  had 
published  no  material  on  wages  since  1907,  and 
had  none  in  immediate  contemplation,  while  the 
Director  of  the  Census,  in  reply  to  a  letter,^ 
stated  that  no  special  wage  study  would  be  made 
in  connection  with  the  Census  of  1910.  Hence, 
a  successful  study  of  the  cost  of  living,  the  stand- 
ard of  living,  or  of  any  other  social  problem  in 
which  wages  are  directly  involved,  must  be  pre- 
ceded by  some  unofficial  study  of  wages. 

It  is  the  aim  of  this  study  to  set  down,  as  per- 
fectly and  as  briefly  as  may  be,  an  answer  to  the 
question,  "What  wages  are  now  being  paid  in 
the  United  States?"  Should  the  answer  be  meas- 
urably accurate,  a  basis,  at  present  non-existent, 
will  be  provided  for  advanced  studies.  The 
field  is  a  virgin  one,  and  like  all  pioneers 
in  a  virgin  field,  this  study  will  doubtless  prove 
in  many  respects  inadequate  and  incomplete,  yet, 
could  it  mark  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  investi- 
gations which  will  ultimately  furnish  a  complete 

^  Dated  Oct.  18,  1910. 
[10] 


THE  WAGES  PROBLEM 

answer  to  the  question  "What  are  w^ges?",  it 
would  be  more  than  successful, — it  would  be  pro- 
gressive. 

The  available  data  on  tjie  subject  of  wages 
exists  chiefly  in  the  reports  of  State  bureaus 
of  labor,  and  is  unfortunately  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  render  comparison  with  data  of  a  decade 
since  (in  the  few  cases  where  such  data  exists) 
most  unsatisfactory.  In  consequence  of  this 
inadequacy,  the  present  study  has  been  con- 
fined to  current  wages,  a  step  rendered  even 
more  imperative  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
labor  bureaus  from  which  data  was  secured  have 
been  in  existence  for  only  one,  two  or  three 
years. 

Owing  to  the  slowness  of  some  States  in  pub- 
lishing reports,  the  data  is,  unfortunately,  not  all 
relative  to  the  same  year:  "a  study  of  wages  in 
the  United  States  for  1910"  would  have  been 
far  more  satisfying  than  this  study  for  1908- 
1910.  The  years  are,  however,  comparable  to  a 
degree,  as  the  worst  phases  of  the  depression 
following  the  panic  of  1907  had  disappeared  in 
1908,  and  industry,  while  not  normal,  was  return- 
ing slowly  to  normality.  Wherever  possible  the 
data  for  1909  has  been  used  in  preference  to  that 

[11] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  any  other  year,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
material  relates  to  that  year. 

The  aim  of  the  study  will  therefore  be,  through 
the  comparison  of  available  data,  to  show  exist- 
ing wages, — 

1.  In  certain  States  publishing  the  best  wage 
statistics. 

2.  In  three  industries  of  which  special  wage  in- 
vestigations have  recently  been  made. 

3.  As  shown  in  "average  wages." 

4.  As  distributed  geographically. 

5.  As  distributed  through  special  industries. 

A  measurable  degree  of  success  in  this  endeavor 
will  furnish  material  which  will  establish  a  foun- 
dation on  which  more  advanced  and  more  impor- 
tant studies  may  be  erected. 


[12] 


CHAPTER  II 
STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 

I.   The  Scope  of  State  Wage  Statistics 

The  data  of  most  value,  in  a  wage  study, 
would  normally  be  secured  from  the  States  in 
which  the  largest  amounts  of  wages  are  paid. 
These  States,  described  by  the  Census  of  Man- 
ufactures in  terms  of  "capital  invested,"  "num- 
ber of  wage  earners  employed,"  "  value  of 
product,"  etc.,  may,  for  convenience  of  discus- 
sion, be  designated  as  "great  industrial  States." 
In  the  order  of  their  industrial  importance,  the 
first  ten  of  these  States  are: 

1.  New  York  6.  New  Jersey 

2.  Pennsylvania  7.  Missouri 

3.  Illinois  8.  Michigan 

4.  Massachusetts  9.  Wisconsin 

5.  Ohio  10.  Indiana  ^ 
Though  these  States  represent  the  industries 

of  the  United  States  paying  the  most  wages  and 

^  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905,  Vol.  I,  pp.  cxcviii-cxcix. 

[13] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

employing  the  largest  number  of  wage  workers, 
they  fail,  for  the  most  part,  to  publish  any  worthy 
wage  statistics.  A  few  citations  will  establish 
the  truth  of  this  assertion.  New  York  wage 
statistics  relate  to  members  of  labor  unions  only; 
the  average  wage  statistics  of  Pennsylvania  are 
incomplete, — even  those  cited  are  wretchedly 
compiled  and  presented;  Illinois  has  published 
no  recent  statement  of  wages  except  in  depart- 
ment stores;  the  latest  available  Wisconsin  re- 
port includes  the  years  1906-7;  Missouri,  Michi- 
gan and  Indiana  publish  little  or  no  wage  data. 
Thus,  of  the  ten  leading  industrial  States,  but 
three, — Ohio,  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey, — 
furnish  wage  data  which  merits  a  somewhat  ex- 
tended comment.  The  statistics  for  Ohio  are 
excellent,  but  very  diffuse  and  unconcentrated. 
The  statistics  for  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey 
are,  on  the  other  hand,  scientifically  classified, 
accurately  presented,  and  in  every  sense  satisfac- 
tory and  reliable.  Therefore,  of  the  ten  leading  in- 
dustrial States,  three  present  worthy  wage  data; 
the  statistics  of  two  are  far  from  satisfactory ;  while 
five  of  the  ten  States  furnish  no  current  wage 
material  of  value  to  this  study. 

Deplorable  as  is  the  lack  of  statistics  in  these 
[14] 


STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 

great  industrial  States,  the  conditions  in  the 
country  at  large  are  infinitely  worse.  Of  the 
forty-seven  States  of  the  Union,  not  more  than  five 
publish  good  up-to-date  wage  statistics.  These 
five  are  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Kansas, 
Oklahoma  and  Ohio.  Of  the  remaining  States, 
a  score  publish  statistics  of  average  wages  only, 
which,  in  some  cases,  are  so  unrepresentative  as 
to   be   valueless. 

The  really  valuable  State  data, — and  it  is 
strictly  limited  to  the  reports  of  a  few  States, — 
will  appear  in  the  present  study,  which  will 
include  all  of  the  scientific  wage  material  fur- 
nished in  the  State  reports  up  to  January  1,  1911. 
The  New  York  material  is  not  used  because, 
collected  from  trade  unions  only,  and  giving, 
therefore,  union  rather  than  general  wages,  it  is 
not  comparable  with  the  material  published  in 
any  other  wage  report,  and  not  representative  of 
general  labor  conditions. 

This  brief  statement  will  convey  some  idea  of 
the  inadequacy  of  existing  State  wage  statistics. 
It  remains  to  consider  the  various  methods  of 
compilation  employed,  since  good  statistics,  badly 
compiled  and  presented,  are  no  better  than  badly 
collected  statistics. 

[15]       ' 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

II.  The  Methods  of  State  Wage  Reports 

'  The  least  desirable  form  in  which  States  report 
wages  is  the  "Maximum  and  Minimum"  system. 
Under  this  system,  the  highest  and  lowest  wages 
paid  in  any  establishment  are  considered.  An 
example  of  this  method  appears  on  page  18  of 
the  Twenty-third  Annual  Report  of  the  North 
Carolina  Department  of  Labor  (1909),  where  it 
is  stated  that  in  Alamance  County,  in  all  of  the 
industries,  the  highest  weekly  wage  paid  to  men 
was  $23.67;  the  lowest  wage  $13.47.  That  is  the 
extent  of  the  statistics.  There  is  no  statement  of 
the  total  number  of  men  employed,  and  no  figures 
to  indicate  how  many  men  received  $23.67  and 
how  many  received  $13.47.  It  may  well  be  that 
the  high  wages  were  paid  to  a  few  foremen  and 
highly  skilled  artisans  or  mechanics,  while  the 
lowest  was  the  prevalent  wage;  however,  in  the 
absence  of  any  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the 
industry,  of  the  total  number  of  employees,  and 
of  the  numbers  receiving  specified  wages,  the 
figures  are  ridiculous, — not  worth  the  paper  on 
which  they  are  printed,  since  they  fail  to  furnish 
the  least  indication  of  the  rate  of  wages  paid  in 
North  Carolina.      It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that 

[16] 


STATE  WAGE   STATISTICS 

the  States  which  use  such  methods  of,  compihng 
wage  statistics  might  reduce  their  Labor  Bureau 
appropriations  by  the  amount  of  the  printer's  bill, 
without  serious  loss  to  the  public. 

Another  most  unsatisfactory  group  of  figures 
is  furnished  by  a  number  of  States  of  which 
Michigan  is  a  typical  illustration.  For  the  entire 
State  of  Michigan  there  were  in  1909,  9,052 
industrial  establishments,  employing 

With  Average 
Daily  Wages  of 

9,191  Superintendents $5.07 

9,213  Foremen 3.31 

9,862  Male  Office  Employees 3.10 

6,619  Female  Office  Employees 1.57 

209.967  Male  Factory  Employees 2.56 

42,789  Female  Factory  Employees 1.14 

2,746  Boys  under  16 88 

1,407  Girls  under  16 77 

making  a  total  of  291,799  employees  with  an 
average  daily  wage  of  $1.98.^  These  totals  are 
computed  from  the  same  figures  for  each  county, 
but  no  industries  are  mentioned,  so  that,  while  the 
figures  convey  more  information  than  the  North 
Carolina  figures,  they  are  still  exceedingly  defective. 
The  next  group  of  State  reports,  typified  by 
Pennsylvania,  gives  rather  detailed  average  fig- 

^  First  Annual  Report,  Department  of  Labor,  Lansing,  Mich.,  1910. 
Pp.  188-189. 

.[  n  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ures  for  industries,  and  for  the  entire  State.  It 
is  possible,  from  such  statistics,  to  compare  the 
average  wages  of  adult  women  in  the  hosiery  and 
in  the  worsted  goods  industries,  or  the  wages  of 
adult  men  in  the  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal 
mines.  Such  average  wage  figures  begin  to  have 
a  minimum  value  for  purposes  of  comparison; 
still  they  cannot  be  used  as  the  basis  of  impor- 
tant conclusions  regarding  actual  wages. 

The  best  of  the  reports,  like  those  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Jersey,  give  not  only  average 
wages,  but  a  classification  of  wages  which  makes 
possible  definite  statements  regarding  the  num- 
ber of  employees  in  each  industry  receiving  a 
certain  wage.  The  North  Carolina  type  of  report 
will  be  overlooked  in  the  present  study,  which 
will  present  analyses  only  of  those  reports  from 
which  scientific  deductions  are  possible.  Since 
the  most  valuable  material  appears  in  the  statis- 
tics of  classified  earnings,  the  next  section  will  be 
devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  collection  and 
presentation  of  classified  wage  statistics. 

III.   The  Massachusetts  Method 

The  State  most  successful  in  collecting  and  pre- 
senting classified  wage  statistics  is  Massachusetts. 

[18] 


STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 

As  that  State  stands  among  the  leaders  in  this 
important  work,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  describe, 
in  some  detail,  the  methods  employed  by  Massa- 
chusetts in  collecting  and  presenting  wage  mate- 
rial; for  could  this  study  succeed  in  nothing  more 
than  in  bringing  to  the  attention  of  State  labor 
bureau  chiefs  the  desirability  of  collecting  and 
publishing  uniform  statistics,  together  with  a 
method  for  so  doing,  it  would  have  more  than 
justified  its  existence. 

First,  as  to  the  Massachusetts  method  of  col- 
lecting the  statistics.  The  Massachusetts  Bureau 
of  Statistics  has  adopted  a  schedule  similar  to 
that  employed  by  the  United  States  Census  in 
its  collection  of  statistics  of  manufacture.  In 
fact,  the  two  schedules  are  so  similar  that  the 
Massachusetts  statistics  for  1909  and  the  United 
States  Census  of  Manufactures  for  1909  were 
collected  cooperatively  in  the  same  schedule,  but 
the  method  of  collecting  the  Massachusetts  wage 
statistics  is,  on  the  whole,  superior  to  that  of  the 
Census  of  Manufactures,  which  can  supply  only 
average  wages. 

The  year  of  the  Massachusetts  Statistics  ends 
December  31st,  thus  making  the  calendar  year 
the  statistical  year.     On  the  blanks  which  are 

[19] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 


mailed  annually  to  manufacturers  there  are  ten 
questions.  The  first  and  second  are  for  private 
firms  and  corporations  respectively,  the  first  re- 
ferring to  "partners"  and  the  second  to  "stock- 
holders"; question  three  is  on  "  capital  invested  " ; 
question  four  on  "materials  used";  and  question 
five  on  "goods  made," — all  of  these  questions  relate 
to  the  manufacturer  and  to  manufacture.  As  the 
five  remaining  questions  deal  with  wage  earners 
and  wages,  they  will  be  discussed  in  greater  detail. 

Question  6.    Total  wages  paid  during  the  year  to  wage  earners  only. 
Note. — Do  not  include  salaries. 

On  the  answers  to  this  question  are  based  the 

statistics  of  Average  Wages. 

Question  7.    Persons  employed  (wage  earners  only). 

Number  of  Persons  Employed 

During  the  Month  of:  Males  Females  Total 

January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

[20] 


STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 


Question  8.     Wage  Earners,   number,   December   17,  1910,  as  per 
pay  roll. 

Males  Females 

18  years  of  age  and  over ....  .... 

Under  18  years  of  age ....  .... 

The  answers  to  this  question  give  the  number 
of  adult  males  and  females  and  the  number  of 
young  persons,  males  and  females,  on  a  specified 
date. 

Question  9.     Classified  Weekly  Wages  (wage  earners  only). 


Specified  Wages  (rates) 
Paid  for  the  Week 
during  which  the 
Largest  Number  of  Per- 
sons was  Employed 
Under 


Adults 
Eighteen  Years  of 

Age  and  Over 
, ^ , 

Males        Females 


Young 

Persons 

(under  18 

Years  of 

Age)         Totals 


$3  but  under 

$5 

5   " 

6 

6   " 

7 

7   " 

8 

»   " 

9 

9   " 

10 

10   " 

12 

12   " 

15 

15   " 

20 

20   " 

25 

25  and 

over. . 

Totals... 

It  is  upon  the  answers  to  question  9  that  the 
compilation  of  classified  wages  is  based — by  far 
the  most  important  compilation  of  the  Massa- 

[21] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

chusetts  Bureau.  Could  the  other  States  adopt 
no  other,  they  would  do  well  to  ask  this  one 
question. 

Question  10.     Days  in  Operation. 

A.  On  full  time 

B.  On  %  time 

C.  On  }4  time 

D.  On  less  than  ^2  time 

E.  Days  idle 

Total 305  days. 

Number  of  hours  per  week  normally  worked  by  wage  earners : 

hours. 

Answers  to  question  10  furnish  the  material 
on  unemployment,  which,  together  with  the  classi- 
fied weekly  wages,  makes  possible  a  fairly  accu- 
rate compilation  of  the  classified  yearly  earnings. 

The  answers  to  these  ten  questions  must,  under 
the  law,  be  given  before  "Jan.  21,  1911."  When 
returned,  they  are  compiled  in  six  tables.^ 

Table  1,  compiled  from  questions  1  to  6,  gives 

1.  Number  of  establishments 

2.  Capital  devoted  to  production 

3.  Value  of  stock  and  materials  used 

4.  Amount  of  wages  paid  during  the  year 

5.  Average  yearly  earnings 

^  See  The  Commonwealth  of  Mass.  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Annual 
Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  for  the  year  1908.  Bos- 
ton, 1909. 

[22] 


STATE  WAGE   STATISTICS 

6.  Wage  earners  employed  , 
a.  Average  number  of — 

A.  Males 

B.  Females 

C.  Both  sexes 

h.  Smallest  number 
c.  Largest  number 

7.  Value  of  product 

These  statistics  are  compiled — 

A.  For  the  entire  State  by  industries 

B.  For  the  33  cities  by  industries 

C.  For  108  towns  by  industries 

In  the  cases  of  small  firms,  the  total  is  given 
for  the  town  only.  In  all  cases,  throughout  the 
table,  particular  attention  is  paid  to  giving  totals 
for  the  State,  for  each  city,  town  and  county, 
and  for  each  table. 

Table  ^  is  a  special  table  on  the  Boot  and  Shoe 
industry. 

Table  3  is  also  a  special  table  on  the  Cotton  in- 
dustry. 

Table  J^  gives  the  tabulation  by  industries  of 
answers  to  question  7,  on  the  number  of  persons 
employed  during  each  month. 

Table  5  gives,  by  industries,  the  classified  weekly 
wages,  as  stated  in  the  answers  to  question  9. 

[23] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

Table  6,  in  three  parts,  gives  the  statistics  of 
unemployment  by  industries,  by  cities  and  towns, 
and  by  counties. 

All  of  this  tabulated  material  appears  in  a  little 
over  one  hundred — exactly  126  pages — in  such  form 
that  it  can  be  readily  utilized.  It  permits  of  an 
accurate  analysis  and  determination  of  the  condi- 
tion of  manufactures  in  Massachusetts,  the  rates 
of  wages  and  the  extent  of  unemployment.  It  is, 
from  the  commercial  standpoint,  important,  and 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  social  worker  invalu- 
able in  the  determination  of  disputed  wage  prob- 
lems. 

There  is  one  objection  which  may,  with  obvious 
justice,  be  urged  against  these  statistics.  They 
are  furnished  by  the  manufacturers  and  present 
only  their  side  of  the  problem.  They  may  be 
accurate  for  capital,  product,  and  the  like,  but 
they  cannot  fairly  represent  wages.  Men  and 
women  are  frequently  sick,  injured,  kept  at  home. 
They  do  not  work  the  full  275  or  296  days,  as 
stated  in  these  tabulations.  The  mill  may  have 
been  in  operation,  but  these  people  were,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  not  in  their  places  and  conse- 
quently were  not  paid. 

That  objection  is  valid.  Yet  from  manufac- 
[24] 


STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 

turers,  no  more  accurate  or  useful  statistics  could 
be  secured,  unless  they  furnished  an  abstract  of 
their  pay-rolls,  and  the  records  of  each  individual 
worker  were  tabulated.  Such  a  task,  for  500,000 
workers,  would  be  only  less  stupendous  than  a 
door  to  door  census  of  the  entire  State.  For  the 
time  being,  neither  of  these  propositions  is  prac- 
ticable. Meanwhile,  the  Massachusetts  system 
is  an  excellent  substitute  for  the  one  which  we 
may  hope  to  adopt  in  the  distant  future. 

Two  other  schedules  are  sent  to  employers  and 
to  trade  unions,  requesting  statements  as  to 
changes  in  wages  during  the  past' year.  For  the 
purpose  of  the  present  study,  the  compilations  of 
these  replies  are  unimportant. 

The  Massachusetts  method  of  collecting  and 
presenting  wage  material  has  already  been  adopted 
by  a  number  of  States.  Thus  far  it  has  met  with 
admirable  success,  and  until  some  more  effective 
method  is  devised,  it  should  be  accepted  as  a 
standard  by  other  State  labor  departments. 

IV.    The  Necessity  for  Uniformity  in  State 
Wage  Statistics 

The  Massachusetts  system  of  collecting  wage 
statistics  has  been  described  in  detail  in  order  to 

[25] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

explain  the  source  of  the  Massachusetts  statistics, 
and  in  the  hope  that  other  labor  bureaus  may 
follow  the  Massachusetts  example  and  thus  pro- 
vide a  larger  body  of  accurate  wage  data.  The 
system,  while  little  more  expensive,  is  infinitely 
more  valuable  than  the  "Maximum  and  Mini- 
mum" and  "Average"  systems  of  wage  compila- 
tion,— adopted  by  so  many  of  the  States. 

A  solution  of  many  social  problems  depends 
upon  an  accurate  answer  to  the  question,  "What 
are  wages.''"  The  fact  basis  for  such  an  answer 
can  be  secured  in  one  of  two  ways.  Either  the 
Federal  government  must  organize  and  administer 
an  enormous  system  for  collecting  and  compiling 
industrial  statistics,  or  else  the  States  must  utilize 
the  machinery  already  existing,  collect  uniform 
statistics  and  present  them  in  a  uniform  manner. 
The  latter  alternative  is  by  far  the  more  rational, 
though  it  may  not  in  the  end  prove  more  feasible. 
Several  States,  however,  are  already  presenting 
wage  material  which  is  fairly  uniform,  having 
adopted  the  standard  originally  set  by  Massa- 
chusetts. Thus  the  means  for  securing  uniform 
wage  statistics  already  exists  in  all  States  which 
have  labor  bureaus.  It  only  remains  for  the 
various  bureaus  to  follow  the  example  of  Massa- 

[26] 


STATE  WAGE  STATISTICS 

chusetts,  New  Jersey  and  Kansas,  in  the  collec- 
tion and  tabulation  of  average  and  classified 
wages. 

Until  some  uniform  system  is  widely  adopted, 
any  accurate  answer  to  the  question,  *'What 
wages  are  paid?",  will  be  impossible.  The  statis- 
tics of  a  few  States  may  be  discussed,  with  infer- 
ences for  the  remainder  of  the  country,  but  this 
method  is  always  unsatisfactory.  The  crying 
need  is  for  uniform  statistics  from  so  large  a 
group  of  representative  industrial  States  that  an 
accurate  determination  of  the  wages  paid, — hence 
of  the  probable  social  status  of  the  workers, — will 
be  possible. 

The  three  following  chapters  will  include  a  de- 
tailed study  of  the  wage  statistics  in  the  States 
furnishing  classified  wage  data.  In  so  far  as  these 
statistics  are  comparable,  deductions  will  be  drawn 
from  all  of  them.  In  any  case,  however,  the 
statistics  from  each  State  permit  of  definite  con- 
clusions for  at  least  that  limited  area. 


[27] 


CHAPTER  III 
WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

I.   Classified  Weekly  Eaknings  by  Industries 

Standing  in  the  foremost  rank  of  progressive 
industrial  States,  Massachusetts  presents  wage 
statistics  which,  for  their  completeness  and 
accuracy,  are  unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  other 
American  commonwealth.  It  would  not  perhaps 
be  fair  to  say  unrivalled  by  the  statistics  of  any 
other  commonwealth,  yet  a  student  of  State  wage 
statistics  must  incline  strongly  to  that  view. 
While  the  same  statistics  are  collected  in  other 
States,  the  method  of  presentation  adopted  by 
the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  is  probably 
superior  to  the  method  employed  in  any  other 
State,  with  the  exception  of  New  Jersey. 

An  examination  has  already  been  made  of  the 
wage  schedules  and  the  general  method  of  pres- 
entation  employed    in    the   Massachusetts  wage 

reports.     It  remains  to  present,  in  some  detail, 

[28] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

the  conclusions  which  may  be  reached  from  a 
study  of  Massachusetts  wage  statistics.  These 
statistics  will  be  discussed  in  greater  detail  than 
those  of  the  other  leading  States,  because  of  their 
inherent  excellence,  as  well  as  because  most  of 
the  conclusions  which  can  be  drawn  from  the 
classified  weekly  earnings  of  Massachusetts  are 
apparently  similar  to  the  conclusions  deducible 
from  the  weekly  earnings  in  similar  industries  of 
the  other  industrial  States. 

The  value  of  the  Massachusetts  statistics  con- 
sists primarily  in  their  presentation,  by  industries, 
of  the  classified  weekly  earnings  of  the  males, 
females  and  young  persons  employed  in  the  man- 
ufacturing industries.  These  statistics  involve 
considerable  detail,  but  an  excellent  idea  of  their 
significance  may  be  gained  from  a  summary,  first 
of  totals  for  the  entire  State,  and  then  of  detailed 
statements  regarding  the  industries  employing  the 
various  classes  of  wage  earners, — males,  females, 
and  young  persons.  This  classification  is  made 
because,  as  a  rule,  there  is  a  marked  contrast  in 
the  wages  between  industries  which  employ  a 
large  proportion  of  males  and  those  which  em- 
ploy a  large  proportion  of  females. 

During  the  "week  of  employment  of  greatest 
[29] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


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WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

number  of  wage  earners,"  the  ten  foregoing  in- 
dustries employed  the  largest  number-  of  adult 
males  (21  years  of  age  and  over)  and  paid  them 
the  wages  indicated. 

These  industries  are  really  divisible,  according 
to  the  numbers  employed,  into  two  groups, — 
those  industries  employing  more  than  forty  thou- 
sand persons,  and  those  employing  less  than  fif- 
teen thousand  persons.  Between  these  two  ex- 
tremes not  a  single  industry  appears.  A  study 
of  the  above  table  shows  that  wages  range  much 
lower  in  the  textile  industries.  Thus  in  Cotton 
Goods,  Worsteds,  Woollens  and  Dyeing  and  Fin- 
ishing, there  are  respectively  31,  21,  25  and  21 
per  cent,  of  the  employees  under  $8  a  week.  In 
the  other  industries  these  percentages  are  much 
lower,  with  a  maximum  in  Furniture  of  15  per 
cent.,  and  a  minimum  in  Foundry  and  Machine 
Shop  of  6  per  cent. 

Similar  deductions  may  be  made  from  an  an- 
alysis of  the  higher  wage  group.  In  the  textile 
industries  (Cotton,  Worsteds,  Woollens  and  Dye- 
ing and  Finishing)  there  are  respectively  9,  17, 
10  and  12  per  cent,  of  employees  receiving  more 
than  $15  per  week,  while  in  the  other  industries 
the  percentages  above  $15  per  week  are, — 

[31] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

Boots  and  Shoes 42  per  cent. 

Foundry  and  Machine  Shop 32  per  cent. 

Leather 16  per  cent. 

Paper 18  per  cent. 

Furniture 17  per  cent. 

Jewelry 47  per  cent. 

The  proportion  of  wage  earners  receiving  above 
$15  per  week  is  therefore  considerably  higher  in 
the  non-textile  than  in  the  textile  industries.  The 
proportion  is  also  far  higher  in  the  industries 
(Boots  and  Shoes,  Foundry  and  Jewelry)  in  which 
the  greatest  skill  is  required,  while  in  the  less 
skilled  industries  the  proportion  is  fairly  stable 
at  17  per  cent. 

While  no  rules  can  be  laid  down  regarding  the 
variation  of  Massachusetts  wages  from  industry  to 
industry,  it  is  apparent  that  considerable  variation 
does  exist.  The  presence  of  this  variation  is  strik- 
ingly confirmed  by  a  study  of  female  wages  in  ten 
industries  employing  the  largest  number  of  females. 

The  conclusions  which  may  be  drawn  from  the 
distribution  of  females  by  industries  are,  how- 
ever, somewhat  different  from  those  deducible 
from  the  employment  of  males,  hence  the  follow- 
ing table  presents  the  weekly  wages  of  females 
in  the  ten  Massachusetts  industries  employing 
the  largest  numbers  of  females. 

[32] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 


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[33] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

An  analysis  of  this  table  shows  that  there  is  a 
very  wide  range  in  female  wages,  which  can  best 
be  illustrated  by  showing,  as  before,  the  percent- 
age of  employees  receiving  less  than  a  certain  sum 
per  week.  For  the  industries  under  consideration, 
the  percentage  of  women  receiving  less  than  $6 
per  week  in  these  is, — 

Cotton  Goods 15  per  cent. 

Boots  and  Shoes 13 

Worsteds 7 

Hosiery 24 

Woollens 17 

Clothing 17 

Confectionery 48 

Boots  and  Shoes  (rubber) 1 

Paper 24 

Jewelry 11 

The  variation  in  the  wages  of  females  under 
$6  is  thus  considerably  greater  than  the  variation 
in  the  wages  of  males  under  $8;  falling  as  low  as 
1  per  cent,  in  the  Boot  and  Shoe  industry,  rising 
to  48  per  cent,  in  the  Confectionery  industry. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wages  above  $12  be 
considered,  the  percentages  are, — 

Cotton  Goods 3  per  cent. 

Boots  and  Shoes 25 

Worsteds 8        " 

Hosiery 2 

[34] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

Woollens 7  per  cent. 

Clothing 9 

Confectionery 4 

Boots  and  Shoes  (rubber) 3       " 

Paper — 

Jewelry 16 

Of  the  ten  Massachusetts  industries  employing 
the  largest  number  of  adult  females,  three  (Ho- 
siery, Confectionery  and  Paper)  report  more  than 
one-fifth  of  their  female  employees  as  receiving 
less  than  $6  per  week.  Only  two  (Boots  and 
Shoes  and  Jewelry)  report  more  than  one-tenth 
of  their  female  employees  as  receiving  over  $12 
per  week.  From  one-fourth  to  two-fifths  of  the 
adult  female  employees  receive  from  $6  to  $8  per 
week,  so  that  the  range  of  wages  for  adult  females 
is  from  $6  to  $12,  the  highest  proportion  receiving 
from  $6  to  $8. 

This  brief  survey  of  the  two  groups  of  industries 
employing,  respectively,  the  largest  numbers  of 
men  and  of  women,  reveals  considerable  wage 
variation  from  industry  to  industry.  Apparently 
some  industries  maintain  a  distinctly  higher  wage 
standard  than  others,  a  condition  which  may,  in 
part,  be  explained  by  the  following  sections. 


[35] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

II.   Wages  by  Sex 

Following  the  contrasts,  presented  in  the  last 
section,  between  the  wages  paid  in  the  industries 
employing  the  largest  number  of  adult  males  and 
those  employing  the  largest  number  of  adult 
females,  an  attempt  will  now  be  made  to  com- 
pare the  wages  of  males  and  of  females  in  five 
industries  employing  equal  proportions  of  males 
and  females.  It  is  commonly  assumed  that  the 
presence  of  a  large  proportion  of  women  in  an 
industry  is  a  sure  sign  of  a  low-paid  industry,  or, 
put  differently,  that  the  women,  by  entering  cer- 
tain industries,  lower  wages  through  their  active 
competition  with  men.  To  what  extent  the  pres- 
ence of  women  causes  or,  perhaps  better,  indicates 
low  wages,  it  will  be  the  purpose  of  this  section 
to  determine. 

Figures  purporting  to  show  the  relative  wages 
of  men  and  women  are,  of  necessity,  unsatisfac- 
tory, since  the  amount  and  quality  of  product, 
and  the  skill  required  in  production,  may  all  vary 
from  one  sex  to  the  other.  Hence  it  is  unfair  to 
conclude,  because  men  and  women  are  working 
in  the  same  industry  and  receiving  different 
wages,  that  therefore  discrimination  exists  against 

[36] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

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[37] 


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WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

the  women.  In  fact,  the  conditions  of  many 
industries  are  such  that  men  do  the  skilled,  tech- 
nical work  almost  exclusively,  while  women  do 
the  semi-skilled  work  demanding  dexterity  and 
speed.  Whatever  the  explanation  of  the  differ- 
ence may  be,  there  is  a  marked  contrast  between 
the  wages  of  men  and  of  women  employed  in  the 
same  industries. 

The  statistics  of  the  five  industries  employing 
the  largest  numbers,  in  which  the  proportion  of 
males  and  females  was  practically  the  same, 
appear  on  the  preceding  page. 

Those  employees  receiving  less  than  $6  a  week 
furnish  the  following  percentages, — 

Male  Female 

Cotton  Goods 7  per  cent.  15  per  cent. 

Clothing  (Men's) 2        "  27 

Carpets  and  Rugs 3        "  13        " 

Paper  Goods 1        "  19 

Bookbinding 2        "  17        " 

Thus,  practically  none  of  the  adult  males  in 
these  five  industries  receive  less  than  $6  per 
week,  while  the  proportion  of  females  receiving 
less  than  $6  ranges  from  one-eighth  to  more  than 
one-quarter  of  the  total.  Similar  results  are 
secured  by  computing  the  percentage  of  males 
and  females  who  receive  more  than  $12  per  week. 

[38] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

Males  Females 

Cotton  Goods 23  per  cent.  3  per  cent. 

Clothing  (Men's) 59        "  13 

Carpets  and  Rugs 41        "  4        " 

Paper  Goods 58        "  4        " 

Bookbinding 65        "  4        " 

The  result  is  even  more  striking  in  this  compari- 
son of  percentages  of  over  $12  per  week  than  in 
the  comparison  of  percentages  under  $6  per  week. 
Nearly  half  of  the  males  employed  in  these  indus- 
tries receive  more  than  $12,  while  the  proportion 
of  females  receiving  more  than  $12  exceeds  10 
per  cent,  in  only  one  instance,  ranging  in  the 
others  from  3  to  4  per  cent.  Whatever  the  ex- 
planation, a  sharp  contrast  exists  between  the 
wages  of  males  and  of  females  in  the  Massachu- 
setts industries  employing  equal  numbers  of  both 
sexes. 

III.  The  Wages  of  "Young  Persons" 

Unlike  all  other  State  statistics,  the  Massachu- 
setts report  refers  to  "young  persons"  as  those 
persons  who  are  under  21  years.  As  the  usual 
maximum  for  minors  is  16  years,  any  comparison 
with  other  States  is  somewhat  diflScult.  Accept- 
ing the  Massachusetts  classification,  however,  a 
brief   note   will   be   made  on  the  wages  of  the 

[39] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

minors  employed  in  that  State.  The  five  indus- 
tries employing  the  greatest  number  of  minors, 
with  the  classified  weekly  earnings  in  each,  are 
on  the  following  page. 

An  analysis  of  this  table  shows  a  slight  simi- 
larity between  the  wages  of  minors  and  the 
wages  of  women.  Thus,  of  the  five  industries 
under  consideration,  the  percentage  of  minors 
who  received  less  than  $6  per  week  is, — 

Cotton  Goods 47  per  cent. 

Boots  and  Shoes 37        " 

Worsteds 33 

Foundry  Products 38        " 

Confectionery 80        " 

In  none  of  these  five  industries  do  more  than 
9  per  cent,  of  the  minors  receive  over  $8  per 
week.  As  with  the  women  in  Massachusetts,  so 
with  the  minors,  wages  range  below  $6  for  a 
goodly  proportion,  while  almost  none  of  the 
minors  receive  more  than  $9.  The  maximum  of 
wages  for  any  large  group  of  women  was  $12, 
hence  the  wages  of  minors  are  somewhat  below 
the  wages  of  women  in  the  upper  wage  groups. 

The  range  of  the  entire  group  of  minors'  wages 
is  somewhat  lower  than  that  for  females,  with 
the  exceptionof  Confectionery,  which  appears  from 

[40] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 


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[41] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

both  the  wages  of  females  and  of  minors  to  be  a 
very  low-paid  industry.  The  range  of  the  per- 
centages of  minors  who  earn  less  than  $6  per 
week  is  very  slight,  probably  showing  that  the 
character  of  their  occupation  is  very  similar  as 
regards  skill,  judgment  and  like  qualities. 

In  Massachusetts,  therefore,  for  the  five  indus- 
tries employing  the  largest  numbers,  nearly  one- 
half  of  the  minors  employed  received  less  than 
$6  per  week.  For  the  State  at  large,  80,944 
minors  were  employed,  of  whom  37,271,  or  46 
per  cent.,  received  less  than  $6  per  week.  The 
five  largest  industries  and  the  entire  State  are 
remarkably  similar  in  this, — that  approximately 
the  same  percentage  of  women  and  of  minors  is 
paid  a  weekly  wage  of  six  dollars. 

IV.  Weekly  Wages  in  the  Four  Chief 

Industries 

The  statistics  thus  far  presented  show  for 
Massachusetts  the  variation  in  classified  weekly 
wages  from  industry  to  industry,  from  sex  to 
sex,  and  from  adults  to  minors.  The  remaining 
task,  by  far  the  most  difficult,  is  a  summary  of 
the  wages  in  Massachusetts,  in  an  attempt  to 
answer  that  fundamental  question, — "What  are 

[42] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

wages?"  This  summary  can  best  be  presented 
in  two  ways: — First,  by  a  statement  of  classified 
weekly  earnings  for  the  entire  State;  second,  by 
a  study  of  classified  weekly  earnings  in  the  four 
industries  of  the  State  employing  the  largest 
number  of  persons. 

The  following  summary  of  classified  weekly 
wages  foj*  the  entire  State  is  computed  from  page 
82  of  the  Massachusetts  Report  for  1908. 

CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  WAGES— ALL  INDUSTRIES,  WITH  PERCENT- 
AGE IN  EACH  WAGE  GROUP  FOR  MALES,  FE]\L\LES  AND  YOUNG 
PERSONS    (UNDER   21   YEARS).— MASSACHUSETTS,  1908 1 

Adult  Males  Adult  Females 

Classified  Weekly  (21  yrs.  and  over)  (21  yrs.  and  over) 

Earnings  Per  Per 

No.  Ct.  No.  Ct. 

Under  $5 5,049       1  10,945       8 

$5  to  $6 6,216       2  14,610  10 

6  to     7... 13,584       4  23,309  16 

7  to     8..'. 22,469       7  24,414  17 

8  to     9 31,472       9  21,780  15 

9  to  10 41,399  12  18,609  13 

10  to  12 61,632  17  18,426  13 

12  to  15 70,293  20  8,769       6 

15  to  20 69,996  20  3,363       2 

20  and  over 28,008       8  710       • 

Totals 350,118  100  144,935  100 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

Thus,  in  1908,  of  the  adult  male  wage  workers 
in  Massachusetts,  one-half  received  less  than  $12 

'Supra,  p.  82. 

[43] 


Young  Persons 

(under  21 

I  yrs.) 

Per 

No. 

ct. 

19,352 

24 

17,919 

22 

18,057 

23 

10,854 

14 

6,399 

8 

4,196 

5 

2,810 

3 

1,032 

1 

281 

• 

44 

* 

80,944 

100 

WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

per  week;  among  the  adult  females,  nine-tenths 
received  less  than  $12  per  week;  while  among  the 
"young  persons"  (under  21  years  of  age)  there 
were  less  than  2  per  cent,  who  received  over  $12. 
On  the  other  hand,  while  slightly  more  than  one- 
quarter  of  the  males  received  over  $15  per  week, 
only  one-fiftieth  of  the  females  can  be  included 
in  this  class,  and  the  "young  persons"  do  not 
appear  at  all.  Seven-tenths  of  all  adult  males 
receive  weekly  wages  ranging  from  $9  to  $20, 
while  more  than  four-fifths  of  the  adult  females 
receive  from  $5  to  $12  per  week.  The  classified 
weekly  wages  of  the  adult  males  of  Massachusetts 
are  therefore  almost  twice  as  high  as  the  wages 
of  the  adult  females. 

The  Massachusetts  statistics  for  "young  per- 
sons" include  all  ages  up  to  21  years.  As  the 
figures  are  for  neither  children  nor  adults,  they 
are  comparatively  valueless.  Hence,  because  of 
their  slight  value,  and  to  reduce  the  quantity  and 
complexity  of  the  data  presented,  they  will  be 
largely  omitted  from  the  following  discussion. 

The  second  approach  to  a  summary  of  wages 
in  Massachusetts  may  be  made  by  a  study  of  the 
four  industries  employing  more  than  25,000  work- 
ers each.     These  industries,  in  the  order  of  the 

[  U  ] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

numbers  of  persons  employed,  are  Cotton  Goods, 
Boots  and  Shoes,  Foundry  and  Machine  Shops, 
and  Worsted  Goods.  The  tables  of  classified 
weekly  earnings  of  the  males  and  females  in  these 
industries  follow. 


PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND  FEMALES  (21  YEARS  OF  AGE 
AND  OVER),  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  WAGES  IN  THE 
FOUR  MASSACHUSETTS  INDUSTRIES  EMPLOYING  THE  LARGEST 
NUMBER  OF  PERSONS.— MASSACHUSETTS,  1908  > 

Boot  and 
Cotton  Goods      Shoe  Industry  Foundry  and   Worsted  Goods 

I * \     I * \        Machine        i * \ 

Adult      Adult      Adult      Adult  Shops         Adult     Adult 

Classified  Weekly     Males   Females   Males   Females  Adult  Males    Males  Females 


Earnings 

Under  $5 

$5  but  under  $6 

6  " 

7  " 

8  " 

9  " 
10  " 
12  " 
15  " 
20  and  over 


Per  cent. 
3  5 

10 


Per  cent. 

3 

1  ( 


7 
13 
21 
26 
16 


Per  cent. 


2 
4 
9 
13 

18 

22 
26 


Totals 100 


100  100  100  100 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 


Per  cent. 


ICO 


Cotton  Goods,  the  largest  Massachusetts  in- 
dustry, in  so  far  as  the  number  of  employees  is 
concerned,  pays  the  lowest  wages  of  any  of  the 
leading  industries.  Of  the  adult  males  (over  21 
years)    nearly    one-third    receive    under    $8    per 

1  Ibid. 

[45] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

week,  while  four-fifths  of  the  total  adult  males 
receive  less  than  $12  per  week,  leaving  only  one- 
tenth  of  the  entire  number  of  adult  males  with 
weekly  incomes  of  over  $15.  The  wages  of  the 
adult  females  (over  21  years  of  age)  are  lower 
than  the  wages  of  adult  males,  but  not  lower  in 
the  proportion  that  they  are  in  other  industries. 
Half  of  the  adult  females  receive  less  than  $8 
per  week,  nearly  a  half  receive  wages  ranging 
from  $8  to  $12,  leaving  only  one-twentieth  of 
the  adult  females  with  weekly  wages  over  $12, 
and  none  with  weekly  wages  over  $15. 

In  the  second  largest  Massachusetts  industry 
(Boots  and  Shoes),  wages  range  considerably 
higher  than  in  Cotton  Goods.  Thus,  among  the 
adult  males,  only  one-tenth  receive  less  than  $8 
per  week,  as  compared  with  one-third  in  Cotton 
Goods;  two-fifths  receive  wages  of  less  than  $12 
per  week,  as  contrasted  with  four-fifths  in  Cotton 
Goods;  while  two-fifths  receive  more  than  $15 
per  week,  as  contrasted  with  one-tenth  in  Cotton 
Goods. 

Among  the  adult  females,  however,  the  wages 
range  higher  than  the  Cotton  Goods  wages.  A 
third,  instead  of  a  half,  receive  less  than  $8,  while 
three-quarters,    instead    of    nineteen-twentieths, 

[46] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACtlUSETTS 

receive  wages  under  $12.  Nearly  one-tenth  of 
the  adult  females  in  this  industry  receive  more 
than  $15  per  week. 

From  these  two  industries,  the  conclusion  is 
obvious  that,  for  a  man  settling  in  Massachusetts, 
a  Boot  and  Shoe  town  is  infinitely  preferable  to 
a  Cotton  Mill  town,  in  so  far  as  wages  are  con- 
cerned. The  work  may  be  harder  or  more  tech- 
nical, but  the  difference  in  wage  between  the  two 
industries  is  very  considerable. 

The  third  industry,  Foundry  and  Machine 
Shop,  emploj^s  males  only.  In  this  industry 
wages  range  lower  than  in  the  Boot  and  Shoe 
industry,  but  much  higher  than  in  the  Cotton 
Goods  industry.  One-twentieth  of  those  em- 
ployed receive  less  than  $8  per  week;  nearly 
one-half  receive  less  than  $12  per  week;  while 
one-third  receive  wages  of  more  than  $15  per 
week.  Thus,  while  there  are  fewer  Foundry 
workers  who  receive  less  than  $8  per  week  than 
there  are  Boot  and  Shoe  workers,  there  are  con- 
siderably more  Boot  and  Shoe  workers  (two- 
fifths)  who  receive  over  $15  per  week  than  there 
are  among  Foundry  workers  (one-third). 

The  Worsted  industry,  the  last  of  the  four 
leading  Massachusetts  industries,  is  more  similar 

[47] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

to  the  Boot  and  Shoe  than  to  any  of  the  others, 
as  the  following  comparison  for  adult  males  will 
show. 

PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALE  EMPLOYEES  RECEIVING 
CERTAIN  WEEKLY  WAGES.— MASSACHUSETTS,  1908 


Cotton 

Boots  and 

Worstec 

Weekly  Earnings 

Goods 

Shoes 

Foundry 

Goods 

Under    $8 

31 

11 
37 

6 
46 

21 

Under    12 

77 

64 

Under    15 

91 

58 

68 

83 

Over      20 

3 

16 

6 

3 

Thus  the  Boot  and  Shoe  industry  pays  by  far 
the  best  wages  to  adult  males,  while  the  lowest 
wages  are  paid  in  the  Cotton  industry. 

A  similar  table  for  adult  females  brings  out 
like  contrasts. 

PERCENTAGE    OF    ADULT    FEMALES    RECEIVING    CER- 
TAIN WEEKLY   WAGES.— MASSACHUSETTS.  1908. 

Weekly  Earnings         Cotton  Goods  Boots  and  Shoes  Worsted  Goods 

Under  $6   15  13  7 

Under    8 50  32  49 

Under  12 97  75  92 

Over    15 —  9  1 

While  the  variation  between  the  wages  of  these 
adult  females  is  not  so  great  as  that  between  the 

[48] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

wages  of  adult  males,  it  is  none  the  less  consider- 
able between  the  Boot  and  Shoe  industry,  with 
three-quarters  of  the  adult  females  receiving  less 
than  $12  per  week,  and  the  other  two  industries, 
with  more  than  nine-tenths  receiving  a  weekly 
wage  of  less  than  $12. 

V.   Classified  Annual  Earnings  in 
Massachusetts 

It  is  then,  from  these  statistics  of  the  wages  in 
all  Massachusetts  industries,  and  in  the  four  lead- 
ing industries,  that  an  attempt  must  be  made  to 
show  the  average  annual  earnings  in  Massachu- 
setts. 

Like  all  wage  statistics  furnished  by  manufac- 
turers, the  Massachusetts  wages  are  somewhat 
unsatisfactory  as  a  basis  for  computing  annual 
earnings.  "The  actual  earnings  of  the  individual 
wage  earner  for  a  year  cannot  be  determined 
from  the  records  kept  by  employers, — for  should 
it  happen  that  one  factory  was  idle,  an  operative 
might  secure  temporary  employment  in  the  same 
line  of  work  with  some  other  manufacturer,  and 
in  that  way  have  his  time  fully  occupied."  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  a  factory  may  work  con- 

^  Supra,  p.  xxiv. 

[49] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

tinuously  during  the  305  working  days  of  the 
year,  but  an  individual  may,  during  that  time, 
lose  30  days  from  sickness.  The  returns  from  the 
manufacturer  would  not  show  this  loss,  which 
could  be  ascertained  only  by  having  a  census  of 
individuals. 

While  the  extent  of  unemployment  due  to  per- 
sonal causes  such  as  sickness  is  not  directly  de- 
terminable, the  Massachusetts  statistics  do  fur- 
nish the  amount  of  unemployment  caused  by 
the  cessation  of  work  in  the  factories.  This  ascer- 
tainable unemployment  must  be  deducted  from 
the  "weekly  earnings"  in  any  industry  before 
they  form  a  true  basis  for  estimating  the  amount 
annually  paid  in  cash  to  the  employee. 

Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  on  this 
subject  of  unemployment.  A  man  receives  $3  a 
day.  "That,"  says  the  man  on  the  street,  "is 
enough."  Enough  for  one  day?  Perhaps.  But 
this  worker  may  be  employed  only  200  of  the  300 
working  days  in  the  year,  and  his  $3  for  the  days 
when  he  has  work  shrinks  to  $2  when  averaged 
with  the  days  when  he  has  no  work.  Unemploy- 
ment is,  moreover,  a  constant  factor  in  industry, 
and  even  in  "prosperous"  years  it  must  be  reck- 
oned with,  while  in  the  lean  years  it  is  a  spectre 

[50] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

of  appalling  magnitude  to  the  average  working- 
man.^ 

The  Massachusetts  Report  for  1908  furnishes 
excellent  statistics  of  the  unemployment  in  each 
industry.  Before  drawing  final  conclusions  as  to 
wages  in  Massachusetts,  it  therefore  becomes 
necessary  to  inquire  into  the  extent  of  unemploy- 
ment during  1908. 

For  the  entire  State,  the  manufacturers  report 
275  days  worked  out  of  a  possible  305  working 
days.  Or,  expressed  in  percentages,  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  State  were  unemployed  12  per 
cent,  of  the  working  time.  The  table  of  Classified 
Weekly  Earnings,  after  being  multiplied  by  52, 
must  be  reduced  by  12  per  cent,  in  order  to  repre- 
sent an  accurate  average  for  the  year.  The  stated 
weekly  earnings,  after  subtracting  12  per  cent,  for 
unemployment,  would  give,  in  annual  earnings, 
the  percentages  at  the  top  of  the  following  page. 

Of  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  adult 
male  wage  workers  in  Massachusetts,  slightly 
more  than  one-third  receive  less  than  $459  per 
year;  seven-tenths  earn  less  than  $686  per  year; 
more  than  nine-tenths  earn  less  than  $915  per 

1  "The  Extent  of  Unemployment  in  the  U.  S."  Scott  Nearing. 
PubUcations  of  the  Am.  Statistical  Ass'n,  September,  1909,  page  525. 

[51] 


WAGES   IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND 
ADULT  FEMALES  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY 
EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT  DEDUCTED),  ALL  MAS- 
SACHUSETTS INDUSTRIES,  1908 

Adult  Males  Adult  Females        Young  Persons 

Classified  Yearly  (21  years  and  over)    (21  years  and  over)  (under  21  years) 

Earnings  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Under  $229 1  7  24 

275 2  17  46 

320 5  33  69 

366 12  50  83 

"   412 21  65  91 

459 35  ,79  96 

549 52  92  99 

686 72  98  100 

915 92  100  * 

Over   915 8  *  * 


year;  while  only  one-twelfth  earn  over  $915 
annually.  Thus,  for  the  adult  male  wage  workers 
of  one  of  the  leading  industrial  States,  the  actual 
annual  earnings  of  nine-tenths  are  less  than  $900 
per  year.  The  wages  of  the  adult  females  are 
considerably  lower  than  those  of  the  adult  males. 
Half  of  these  workers  earn  less  than  $366  annually; 
three-quarters  earn  less  than  $459  annually;  while 
only  one-fiftieth  earn  more  than  $686  per  year. 

These  statistics  for  an  entire  State,  including 
very  diverse  industries,  may  well  be  supple- 
mented by   statistics  of  the  leading  individual 

[52] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  IVIASSACHUSETTS 

industries.  The  classified  weekly  earnings  of  the 
four  leading  Massachusetts  industries  have  al- 
ready been  stated.  It  remains,  however,  to  esti- 
mate the  annual  earnings  in  each  industry  by 
deducting  from  the  average  weekly  earnings  the 
percentage  of  time  during  which  the  industry 
was  not  operating  its  plants. 

In  the  Cotton  Goods  industry  the  percentage 
of  unemployment  amounted,  as  in  the  entire 
State,  to  12  per  cent.  Making  this  deduction 
from  the  average  weekly  wages,  the  figures  are, — 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND 
ADULT  FEMALES  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY 
EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT  DEDUCTED)  IN  THE 
COTTON   GOODS   INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS,   1908 


Classified  Yearly 

(21  years  and  over) 

^21  years  and 

Earnings 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Under  $229 

3 

5 

275 

7 

15 

320 

16 

31 

"       3G6 

31 

50 

412 

45 

68 

459 

.....                59 

83 

549 

77 

97 

680 

91 

100 

915 

97 

* 

Over      915 

3 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

* 

[53] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  contrast  between  these  figures  and  the  fig- 
ures for  the  State  at  large  is  striking  for  the  males, 
but  negligible  for  the  females .  Briefly  summarized, 
the  percentages  of  adult  males  earning  certain 
annual  amounts  were, — 


Entire  State 

Cotton  Goods 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

35 

59 

72 

91 

92 

97 

Under  $459 

686 

915 

Thus  the  wages  of  adult  males  are  considerably 
lower  in  the  Cotton  Goods  industry  than  in  the 
industries  of  the  State  at  large. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGE  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND 
ADULT  FEMALES  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY 
EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT  DEDUCTED)  IN  THE 
BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS,  1908 


Adult  Males 

Adult  Females 

Classified  Yearly 

(21  years  and  over) 

(21  years  and  over) 

Earnings 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Under  $239 

3 

7 

'       287 

4 

13 

335 

7 

21 

'       383 

11 

32 

431 

17 

44 

478 

24 

58 

574 

37 

75 

717 

58 

91 

957 

84 

99 

Over      957 

16 

1 

[54]j 

WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

The  unemployment  in  the  Boot  and  Shoe  in- 
dustry was  only  8  per  cent.,  leaving  the  annual 
earnings  as  follows, — 

Under  $478 24  per  cent. 

717 58 

957 84 

Thus  there  are  one -sixth  of  the  adult  male 
Boot  and  Shoe  workers  earning  more  than  $957 
annually. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  RE- 
CEIVING CLASSIFIED  YEARLY  EARNINGS  (UNEM- 
PLOYMENT DEDUCTED)  IN  THE  FOUNDRY  AND 
MACHINE   SHOP   INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS,  1908 

<-.t      •/?  J  tr      IT-.      •  Adult  Males 

Classified  Yearly  Earnings  .^ 

Per  cent. 

Under  $226 * 

271 * 

317 2 

362 6 

407 15 

452 28 

543 46 

679 68 

905 94 

Over      905 6 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

The  range  in  the  Foundry  and  Machine  Shop 
industry  is  not  so  high  as  that  in  the  Boot  and 

[55] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

Shoe  industry.  The  unemployment  is  consider- 
ably greater,  amounting  to  13  per  cent.  Reducing 
the  classified  weekly  earnings  in  this  proportion, 
it  appears  that, — of  the  adult  male  wage  earners, — 

28  per  cent,  receive  less  than $407 

46       "  "         "       "    543 

94       "  "        "       "    905 

and  6  per  cent,  receive  more  than  $905. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND 
ADULT  FEMALES  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY 
EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT  DEDUCTED)  IN  THE 
WORSTED    INDUSTRY.— MASSACHUSETTS,    1908 


Classified  Yearly 

(21  years  and  over)  ( 

21  years  and 

Earnings 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent 

Under  $247 

* 

1 

296 

4 

7 

"       346 

11 

27 

395 

21 

49 

445 

35 

68 

494 

47 

78 

583 

64 

92 

741 

83 

99 

988 

97 

100 

Over      988 

3 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

~ 

The  unemployment  in  Worsted  Goods  is  con- 
siderably less  than  in  the  Machine  Shop  industry 

[56] 


WAGE  STATISTICS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

(only  5  per  cent.),  hence  the  classified  earnings 
of  both  males  and  females  range  considerably 
higher  in  that  industry.  The  wages  are  generally 
much  higher  than  in  the  Cotton  industry,  and 
lower  than  in  either  the  Boot  and  Shoe  or  the 
Foundry  industry. 

Therefore,  in  conclusion,  it  may  be  fairly 
stated  that  not  more  than  one  adult  male  wage 
earner  in  every  twenty  employed  in  the  industries 
of  Massachusetts  receives,  in  annual  earnings, 
for  a  normally  prosperous  year,  more  than  $1000. 
On  the  other  hand,  more  than  one-third  of  all  the 
adult  males  are  paid  wages  under  $500;  more 
than  one-half  receive  wages  under  $600;  while 
nearly  three-quarters  receive  less  than  $700  an- 
nually. These  figures  are  derived  from  a  study, 
first  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  as  a  whole, 
and  second,  from  the  four  leading  industries. 
Furthermore,  they  are  maximum  figures,  for  no 
deduction  is  here  made  for  unemployment  due 
to  sickness,  accident,  death  in  the  family,  or 
other  personal  factors. 

In  Cotton  Goods,  the  leading  Massachusetts 
industry,  wages  are  very  much  lower  than  in  the 
State  at  large,  nearly  three-fifths  of  all  the  adult 
male  employees  receiving  less  than  $459  in  1908. 

[57] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  the  Boot  and  Shoe  industry,  on  the  contrary, 
wages  are  higher  than  in  the  State  at  large. 

The  wages  of  adult  females  are  very  much 
lower  than  the  wages  of  adult  males.  More  than 
half  of  the  adult  females  receive  less  than  $400 
annually,  while  a  vanishing  fraction  exceed  an 
annual  wage  of  $700.  In  these  two  paragraphs 
are  summarized  the  facts  regarding  wages  in  the 
State  which  collects  and  compiles  wage  statistics 
as  accurate  as,  if  not  more  accurate  than,  those 
of  any  of  the  States  in  the  Union. 


[58] 


CHAPTER  IV 

WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

I.    The  New  Jersey  Statistics  and  Those  ov 
Massachusetts 

The  last  chapter  contained  a  discussion  of  the 
wages  of  Massachusetts  in  1908.  The  New  Jersey 
report  on  wages  which  covers  the  year  1909  is,  in 
many  respects,  similar  to  that  for  Massachusetts. 
The  average  wages  are  presented  in  the  same 
manner;  weekly  wages  are  similarly  classified  by 
industry,  age  and  sex  (except  that  adults  in  New 
Jersey  are  over  sixteen  and  not  over  twenty-one, 
as  in  Massachusetts) ;  the  weekly  earnings  for  the 
entire  State  are  given;  and  the  number  of  days 
worked  is  classified  by  industries.  Because  of 
the  similarity  in  these  two  groups  of  wage  statis- 
tics, and  because  an  analysis  of  New  Jersey 
statistics  yields  results  very  like  those  yielded  in 
Massachusetts,  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  sub- 
stantiate the  conclusions  drawn  in  Chapter  III 

[59] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

regarding,  (1)  The  extent  of  wage  variation  from 
industry  to  industry;  and,  (2)  The  extent  of 
variation  between  the  wages  of  adult  males  and 
adult  females. 

The  present  chapter  will  cover  three  points: 

(1)  Classified  weekly  wages  for  the  entire 

State. 

(2)  Classified  weekly  earnings  in  the  five 

industries    employing    the   greatest 
number  of  persons. 

(3)  Conclusions  as  to  wages  in  New  Jersey. 

II.   The  Classified  Weekly  Wages  of 
New  Jersey 

As  was  the  case  in  Massachusetts  the  really 
valuable  statistics  are  contained  in  the  tables  of 
classified  weekly  earnings.  In  New  Jersey  these 
earnings  are  given  for  the  State  at  large,  and  for 
each  industry  specifically,  and  contain  wage  data 
by  age  and  sex.  The  table  on  the  opposite  page 
presents  the  classified  weekly  wages  for  the  entire 
State. 

One  quarter  of  the  men  over  sixteen  years,  and 
four-fifths  of  the  women  over  sixteen  years,  re- 
ceive less  than  $9  a  week;  one-half  of  the  men  and 
nineteen-twentieths   of   the   women   receive   less 

[60] 


WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 


PERCENTAGES  OF  EMPLOYEES  RECEIVING  CERTAIN 
CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS— ALL  NEW  JERSEY 
INDUSTRIES,  1909' 


Classified  Weekly 
Earnings 


Men  Women 

(16  years  and   (16  years  and 
over)  over) 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 


$5  but  Tinder  fl?6 

6 

7 

7 

8 

8 

9 

9 

10 

10 

12 

12 

15 

15    " 

20 

20  a, 

nd 

over. 

4 

3 

5 

6 

8 

15 

16 

17 

17 

9 


22 

19 

19 

13 

9 

7 

6 

4 

1 


Minors 
(under   16 

years) 

Per  cent. 

85 

11 

3 

1 


Total  employed. 


100 

204,782 


100 
68,360 


100 

5,822 


than  $12  a  week;  while  one-quarter  of  the  men 
and  1  per  cent,  of  the  women  are  paid  more  than 
$20  per  week.  A  noticeable  thing  about  this 
table  is  the  small  proportion  of  women  among 
the  New  Jersey  industrial  workers — only  one  to 
three — a  proportion  considerably  less  than  that 
in  Massachusetts.  The  wages  of  the  women  are 
very   considerably   lower   than   the  wages   of  the 

1  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  1909,  Cam- 
den, 1910,  p.  120. 

[61] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

men.  Thus,  of  the  women,  60  per  cent,  receive 
less  than  $7  per  week,  while  of  the  men,  57  per 
cent,  receive  less  than  $12  per  week.  This  table 
shows  a  rate  of  wages  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
males  and  females  of  the  entire  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

The  number  of  children  employed  in  New  Jer- 
sey is  comparatively  small,  a  little  less  than  six 
thousand;  and  their  wages  are,  in  seventeen- 
twentieths  of  the  cases,  less  than  $5  per  week. 
The  wages  of  New  Jersey  children  (under  16 
years  of  age)  and  of  Massachusetts  young  per- 
sons (under  21  years  of  age),  are  of  course  in- 
comparable because  of  the  different  statistical 
methods.  The  New  Jersey  figures  show  the  wages 
of  the  children  to  be  uniformly  low — under  $250 
a  year  in  most  cases,  while  the  numbers  of  chil- 
dren are  small. 

III.    Classified  Weekly  Wages  in  the  Five 

Industries  Employing  the  Largest 

Numbers  of  Wage  Earners 

The  study  is  again  made  more  effective  if  the 
chief  industries  are  studied  separately  and  com- 
pared. 

[62] 


WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 


PERCENTAGES  OF  CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  OF  MEN  AND 
WOMEN  (16  YEARS  AND  OVER)  IN  THE  FIVE  LEADING  INDUSTRIES 
—NEW  JERSEY,  1908 » 

Manufacture  of  Silk  Industry  (Broad 

Machinery  and  Ribbon) 


Earning9 


$5  but  under  86 

6  " 

7 

7  " 

8 

8  " 

9 

9  " 

"   10 

10  " 

"   12 

12  " 

"   15 

15  " 

"   20 

20  and 

over 

Men 

(16  years 

and  over) 

Per  cent. 

4 

2 

3 

5 

7 

8 

13 

25 

24 

8 


Women 

(16  years 

and  over) 

Per  cent. 

29 

17 

13 

16 

9 

6 

5 

1 


Men  Women 

(16  years  (16  years 

and  over)  and  over) 

Per  cent  Per  cent. 


5 
4 

5 

7 

6 

9 

16 

22 

21 

5 


Total  number  employed. 


Earnings 


Under  $5 

$5  but  under 

6 

7 


9 
10 
12 

15 

20  and  over, 


Manufacture 

of  Oils 

Men 

(16  years 

and  over) 

Per  cent. 


2 

1 

1 

30 

18 

13 

28 

6 


100  100 

19,930  602 

Woollen  and  Worsted 
Industry 


Total  number  employed 


Men 
(16  years 
and  over) 
Per  cent. 
6 
12 
12 
8 
8 
11 
13 
13 
10 
7 


Women 
(16  years 
and  over) 
Per  cent. 
23 
31 
16 
11 
4 
4 
6 
3 
2 


100 
10,574 


100 
10,818 


Chemical  Products 

Men  Women 

(16  years  (16    years 

and  over)  and  over) 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 


1 

2 
3 
4 
7 
13 
28 
21 
15 
6 


23 

22 

20 

14 

11 

6 

3 

1 


100  100  100 

8,850  5,205  5,438 

1  Supra,  pp.  82-119. 

[63] 


100 
6,567 


100 
1,935 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

A  comparison  of  these  five  industries  shows  a 
considerable  variation  in  the  wages  of  adult 
males.  Thus,  while  21  per  cent,  received  less 
than  $9  per  week  in  the  manufacture  of  Machin- 
ery, the  percentages  under  $9  per  week  in  the 
other  industries  were:  Silk,  27  per  cent.;  Oils,  4 
per  cent.;  Chemicals,  17  percent.,  and  Woollens, 
46  per  cent.  Here  is  a  direct  relation  between  the 
standard  of  male  wages  and  the  proportion  of 
women  employed  in  the  industry.  In  the  indus- 
try with  the  least  women  (Oils),  the  percentage 
of  men  earning  less  than  $9  per  week  is  the  lowest, 
while  in  the  two  industries  (Woollens  and  Silk)  in 
which  the  proportion  of  men  and  women  is  prac- 
tically equal,  the  percentage  is  highest.  The  same 
fact  appears  at  the  top  of  the  wage  scale.  Of  the 
employees  in  Oils,  34  per  cent,  receive  more 
than  $20,  while  in  the  Woollens  and  Worsted 
industry  the  percentage  falls  to  7  per  cent. 

Turning  to  the  wages  of  females,  no  such  regu- 
lar variation  occurs.  In  the  industry  with  the 
smallest  proportion  of  females  (Machinery),  64 
per  cent,  of  the  women  received  less  than  $7  a 
week;  but  in  the  Silk,  Chemicals  and  Woollen 
industries,  the  percentages  are  39,  65  and  70, 
respectively.     Of  course   the   women   take   very 

[64] 


WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

inferior  positions  in  the  Machinery  industry,  while 
in  the  other  three  industries  they  come  into  direct 
competition  with  men. 

The  wages  of  both  males  and  females  thus  vary 
greatly  from  industry  to  industry;  in  the  case  of 
the  males,  in  inverse  relation  to  the  number  of 
women  employed.  In  the  case  of  the  females,  no 
rule  of  variation  is  apparent. 

IV.   Annual  Earnings  in  New  Jersey 

In  New  Jersey  the  statistics  of  classified  earn- 
ings are  carefully  compiled,  and  while  the  indus- 
tries are  not  so  localized  nor  perhaps  so  repre- 
sentative as  those  of  Massachusetts,  the  data 
based  on  them  is  of  great  value.  Already  the 
variation  in  wages  from  industry  to  industry  has 
been  established  for  Massachusetts  and  substan- 
tiated for  New  Jersey  in  the  preceding  paragraphs. 
It  remains,  at  this  point,  merely  to  point  out  the 
annual  earnings  in  New  Jersey  industries. 

Again,  as  in  Massachusetts,  unemployment 
plays  a  leading  role  in  the  determination  of 
annual  earnings.  Before  a  conclusion  as  to  an- 
nual earnings  can  be  formed,  the  extent  of  unem- 
ployment must,  therefore,  be  considered.  The 
industries    of    the    State    worked    278.5    days    in 

[65] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

1909, — that  is,  they  lost  10  per  cent,  of  the  work- 
ing time.  Multiplying  the  weekly  earnings  by 
52  and  subtracting  10  per  cent.,  the  following 
table  is  secured: 


PERCENTAGES  OF  EMPLOYEES  RECEIVING  CERTAIN 
CLASSIFIED  ANNUAL  EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT 
DEDUCTED)— ALL  NEW  JERSEY  INDUSTRIES,  1909 


Classified  Yearly 
Earnings 

Under  $234 

$234  but  under  $280 . 
280 


328 
374 
422 
468 
563 
702 
936  and  over. 


374. 
422. 
468. 
563. 
702. 
936. 


Males  Females 

(16  years  and   (16  years  and 


over) 
Per  cent. 

4 

3 

5 

6 

8 
15 
16 
17 
17 

9 


over) 
Per  cent. 
22 
19 
19 
13 

9 

7 

6 

4 

1 


Minors 
(under  16 

years) 

Per  cent. 

85 

11 

3 

1 


100  100  100 

Total  employed. . .        204,782  68,360  5,822 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

It  would  seem  from  this  table  that  two-fifths 
of  the  adult  males  in  the  industries  of  New 
Jersey  earned  less  than  $500  in  1909;  that  three- 
fifths  earned  less  than  $600;  that  three-quarters 
earned  less  than  $700;    while  less  than  one-tenth 

[66] 


WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

earned  more  than  $936.  Like  results  are  obtained 
from  an  analysis  of  wages  in  the  five  industries 
of  the  State  employing  the  largest  numbers  of 
persons,  although  the  unemployment,  hence  the 
annual  earnings,  varies  considerably  from  indus- 
try to  industry. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN 
OVER  SIXTEEN  YEARS,  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED 
YEARLY  EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT  DEDUCTED) 
IN  THE  SILK  (BROAD  AND  RIBBON)  INDUSTRY- 
NEW  JERSEY.  1909 

Men  Women 

Classified  Yearly  (16  years  and  over)     (16  years  and  over) 


Earnings 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent 

Under  $247 

5 

13 

296 

9 

23 

346 

14 

39 

395 

21 

55 

445 

27 

65 

"       494 

36 

73 

583 

52 

85 

741 

74 

97 

"       988 

95 

100 

Over       988 

5 

— 

Total  employed .... 

10,574 

10,818 

The  Silk  (broad  and  ribbon)  industry  reports 
employment  for  290  of  a  possible  305  days.  De- 
ducting this  unemployment  from  the  classified  an- 
nual earnings,  it  appears  that,  of  the  adult  males 

[67] 


WAGES   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 

(16  years  of  age  and  over)  one  quarter  received 
less  than  $500  a  year;  one  half  less  than  $600  a 
year;  three-quarters  less  than  $750  a  year;  while 
only  one-twentieth  receive  more  than  $988  annu- 
ally. The  range  of  adult  male  wages  in  the  Silk 
industry  is  thus  considerably  less  than  the  range 
in  the  State  at  large.  The  wages  of  women 
are  also  low, — more  than  half  of  the  women 
employed  receive  less  than  $400  annually;  while 
three-quarters  receive  less  than  $500,  and  nine- 
teen-twentieths  receive  under  $750. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGE  OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN 
RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY  EARNINGS  (UNEM- 
PLOYMENT DEDUCTED)  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
MACHINERY— NEW  JERSEY,  1909 


Men 

Women 

Classified  Yearly 

(16  years  and  over) 

(16 

years  and  over) 

Earnings 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Under  $239 . 

4 

29 

287 . 

6 

46 

335 . 

9 

64 

383 . 

15 

80 

431. 

12 

89 

478 . 

30 

94 

574. 

43 

99 

717. 

68 

100 

957 . 

92 

— 

Over      957. 

8 

— 

Total  employed .  . 

19.930 

602 

[68] 

WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

The  Machinery  industry,  with  281  working 
days,  pays  much  higher  wages  than  those  paid 
in  the  Silk  industry.  The  numbers  of  males  and 
females  employed  in  the  silk  industry  were  almost 
identical,  but  in  the  manufacture  of  Machinery, 
at  the  less  skilled  tasks — such  as  core-making — 
only  a  small  number  of  females  are  employed. 
Of  the  adult  males  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  Machinery  one-third  earned  less  than  $500; 
two-fifths  earned  less  than  $600;  three-fifths 
earned  less  than  $750;  while  one-twelfth  earned 
more  than  $957.  Among  the  adult  females,  the 
wages  are  extremely  low, — four-fifths  earning 
under  $400,  and  nineteen-twentieths  under  $500. 

Wages  in  the  Woollen  and  Worsted  industry, 
while  somewhat  lower  than  those  in  the  Machin- 
ery industry,  are  rather  higher  than  wages  in 
Silk,  though  the  unemployment  is  the  greatest 
reported  from  any  of  the  leading  New  Jersey 
industries — 272  days  worked  out  of  a  possible 
305.  This  heavy  unemployment,  of  course,  re- 
duces earnings  considerably.  The  wages  are, 
nevertheless,  high.  The  adult  males,  for  example, 
report  only  about  one-half  under  $500;  seven- 
tenths  under  $G00;  four-fifths  under  $750;  and 
one-fourteenth  over  $926.    The  wages  of  females 

[69] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

are  very  similar  in  this  industry  to  those  of  the 
Machinery  industry,  save  that  there  are  a  few 
high-paid  females  in  the  Worsted  industry,  but 
none  in  the  Machinery  industry.  Four-fifths  of 
the  adult  females  fall  below  $400,  and  nine-tenths 
below  $500;  but  one-twentieth  receive  more  than 
$700  annually. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN 
RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY  EARNINGS  (UN- 
EMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED)  IN  THE  WOOLLEN  AND 
WORSTED  INDUSTRY— NEW  JERSEY,  1909 

Classified  Yearly  Men  Women 

Earnings  (16  years  and  over)     (16  years  and  over) 

Under  $231 6  22 

278 18  54 

324 30  70 

370 38  81 

417 46  86 

"       463 57  89 

555 70  95 

694 83  98 

926 93  100 

Over      926 7  — 

Total  employed....  5,205  5,438 

In  the  Chemical  Products  industry  wages  are 
very  similar  to  those  paid  in  the  two  textile 
industries  just  considered,  except  that  unemploy- 
ment is  slight.     One-third  of  the  men  earn  less 

[70] 


WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

than  $500;  three-fifths  earn  less  than  $600;  four- 
fifths  earn  less  than  $750,  while  one-sixteenth  re- 
ceive more  than  $988  annually.  Of  the  women, 
four-fifths  receive  less  than  $400;  nine-tenths  less 
than  $500;  and  only  one-hundredth  more  than 
$750  annually. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN 
RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  YEARLY  EARNINGS  (UN- 
EMPLOYMENT DEDUCTED)  IN  THE  CHEMICAL 
PRODUCTS    INDUSTRY— NEW    JERSEY,  1909 


Men 

W'omen 

Classified  Yearly 

(16 

years  and  over) 

(16 

years  and  over) 

Earnings 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Under  S247 

1 

23 

296 

3 

45 

'       346 

6 

65 

395 

10 

79 

445 

17 

90 

494 

30 

96 

'       583 

58 

99 

741 

79 

100 

988 

94 

— 

Over      988 

6 

— 

Total  employed . . 

5,567 

1,935 

Men  are  employed  almost  exclusively  in  the 
Oil  industry,  and  their  wages  are  higher  than  the 
wages  in  any  other  great  New  Jersey  industry, 
partly  because  they  range  high  in  the  wage  scale, 

[71] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

and  partly  because  of  steady  employment.  Only 
one-twenty -fifth  are  paid  less  than  $475  a  year; 
one-third  less  than  $520;  one-half  receive  less 
than  $600  a  year;  three-fifths  are  paid  less  than 
$750  annually,  and  one-sixteenth  receive  more 
than  $1,040. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  MEN  RECEIVING 
CLASSIFIED  YEARLY  EARNINGS  (UNEMPLOYMENT 
DEDUCTED)  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  OILS— NEW 
JERSEY,  1909 

Men 
Classified  Yearly  Earnings  (16  years  and  over) 

Per  cent. 

Under  $260 — 

312 — 

364 2 

416 3 

468 4 

520 34 

624 53 

780 66 

"    1,040 94 

Over   1,040 6 

Total  employed 8,860 

For  the  State  of  New  Jersey  at  large,  and  for 
the  five  industries  employing  the  largest  numbers 
of  persons,  it  appears  that,  after  deducting  the 
laiown  unemployment,  between  one-third  and 
one-half  of  the  adult  males  received   less   than 

[72] 


WAGES  IN  NEW  JERSEY 

$500  in  1909;  that  from  one-half  to  three-fifths 
received  less  than  $000;  that  about  three-quar- 
ters were  paid  less  than  $750;  nine-tenths  re- 
ceived less  than  $950;  while  from  one-twentieth 
to  one-tenth  received  $950  or  over.  The  wages 
of  adult  females  were  very  much  lower.  From 
three-quarters  to  four-fifths  received  less  than 
$400;  nine-tenths  were  paid  less  than  $500,  while 
a  vanishingly  small  percentage  received  an  annual 
wage  of  more  than  $750. 


[73] 


CHAPTER  V 

KANSAS  WAGE  STATISTICS 

I.  The  Value  and  Scope  of  the  Kansas 
Statistics 

The  third  State  collecting  and  classifying  wage 
statistics  is  Kansas.  Though  in  this  State  the 
statistics  are  drawn  from  industries  less  general 
in  character  than  those  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Jersey,  and  though  their  presentation  is  less  com- 
plete than  in  either  of  the  other  States,  they  are 
nevertheless  sufficiently  valuable  to  warrant  a 
separate  chapter. 

Included  in  this  Kansas  investigation  were 
1,918  estabhshments,  of  which  1,553  reported 
classified  weekly  earnings  "  for  the  week  during 
which  the  largest  number  were  employed."  ^  Only 
about  four-fifths,  therefore,  of  the  establishments 
of  the  State  reported  classified  weekly  earnings. 
The   1,553    establishments  which   reported  were 

1  Annual  Report  Kansas  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909.  Topeka,  1910. 
P.  10. 

[74] 


KANSAS  WAGE   STATISTICS 

emploj^ing  54,948  wage  earners,  of  whom  50,720 
were  adult  males,  3,599  were  adult  females,  and 
629  were  children  under  16  years  of  age;  hence  it 
is  apparent  that  the  wage  problem  of  the  Kansas 
industries  is  a  problem  neither  of  women  nor  of 
children,  primarily,  but  of  men. 

The  contrast  is  marked  between  Massachusetts 
and  New  Jersey,  with  tens  of  thousands  of  women 
and  thousands  of  children  at  work,  and  Kansas, 
with  three  thousand  six  hundred  women  and  six 
hundred  children.  In  Massachusetts  the  women 
formed  30  per  cent,  of  the  total  wage  earners;  in 
New  Jersey,  they  formed  25  per  cent.;  but  in 
Kansas,  less  than  7  per  cent,  of  the  total  wage 
workers  are  women.  A  study  of  Kansas  statistics 
must,  therefore,  lay  its  primary  emphasis  on  the 
wages  of  men. 

The  Kansas  report  gives  classified  weekly  wages, 
by  industries,  by  age,  and  by  sex,  together  with 
total  wages,  but  the  average  wages  are  entirely 
omitted.  So  are  unemployment  statistics,  which 
proved  so  important  a  factor  in  computing  the 
annual  earnings  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Jer- 
sey. Owing  to  the  absence  of  these  unemploy- 
ment figures,  no  such  effective  statement  of  annual 
earnings  can  be  made  for  Kansas. 

[75] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

While  the  Kansas  wage  statistics  omit  average 
wages  and  unemployment  statistics,  the  tables 
of  classified  weekly  earnings  furnish  a  basis  for 
an  effective  study,  which  will  appear  in  the 
remaining  sections  of  this  chapter.  Three  points 
will  be  covered  in  the  course  of  the  chapter: — 

1.  Wages  in  all  of  the  industries  of  the 

State. 

2.  Wages  in  a  selected  group  of  the  indus- 

tries employing  the  largest  number  of 
persons. 

3.  A  summary  of  Kansas  wage  statistics, 

with  an  attempt  to  compute  annual 
earnings. 

II.   Wage  Grouping  in  the  Industries 

OF  Kansas 

The  classified  wage  statistics  of  all  Kansas 
industries  appear  in  the  following  table.  As  the 
few  children  under  sixteen  are  scattered  in  a 
desultory  manner  over  the  various  industries,  they 
will  be  included  in  this  table  only.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  child  labor  problem  is  a  small  one  in 
Kansas,  since  there  are  only  629  working  children 
in  all,  who  are  so  distributed  over  the  various  in- 
dustries that  in  only  two  cases  are  there  more 

[76] 


KANSAS  WAGE   STATISTICS 

than  100  children  in  one  industry  (Bookbinding 
and  Printing,  159;  Slaughtering  and  Meat  Pack- 
ing, 213). 

CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  WITH  PERCENTAGES 
IN  EACH  WAGE  GROUP  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND 
ADULT  FEMALES  AND  CHILDREN  UNDER  SIXTEEN. 
ALL  INDUSTRIES— KANSAS,  1909' 


Classified  Weekly 
Earnings 


Under  $5 

$5,  but  under  $ 


6, 

7, 

8, 

9, 
10, 
12, 
15, 
20,  and  over 


9. 
10. 
12. 
15. 

20. 


Adult  Males 

Adult  Females 

Children 

(IG  years  and 

(16  years  and 

(under   16 

over) 

over) 

years) 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

2 

25 

58 

1 

17 

8 

2 

19 

20 

3 

12 

10 

4 

9 

* 

14 

6 

4 

20 

8 

— 

24 

2 

— 

21 

2 

— 

9 

* 

— 

100  100 

Total  employed. . . .        50,720  3,599 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 


100 
629 


Among  the  adult  males  the  wages  are  relatively 
high,  since  only  12  per  cent,  of  them  receive  less 

^  Annual  Report,  Kansas  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909,  Topeka,  1910.  P.  10. 

[77] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

than  $9  a  week.  Of  the  remaining  88  per  cent.,  34 
per  cent,  receive  wages  between  $9  and  $12  per 
week;  24  per  cent,  fall  between  $12  and  $15 
weekly;  while  30  per  cent,  receive  more  than 
$15  per  week.  On  the  other  hand,  the  wages  of 
the  females  are  rather  low,  61  per  cent,  receiving 
less  than  $7  per  week;  21  per  cent,  from  $7  to  $9 
per  week,  and  only  4  per  cent,  over  $12  weekly. 

The  children  (under  16  years)  are  comparable 
with  the  same  group  in  New  Jersey.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  wages  of  adult  males,  the  wages  of 
children  in  Kansas  are  slightly  higher  than  the 
wages  of  children  in  New  Jersey.  Only  58  per 
cent,  of  the  Kansas  children  fall  below  a  weekly 
wage  of  $5,  as  compared  with  85  per  cent,  in  New 
Jersey.  The  variation  is  not  marked,  however, 
and  in  each  State  the  numbers  included  are  too 
small  to  furnish  an  accurate  comparison.  Thus, 
12  per  cent,  of  the  men  receive  less  than  $9  per 
week,  82  per  cent,  of  the  women  fall  below  that 
figure,  and  although  54  per  cent,  of  the  men 
receive  wages  of  more  than  $12  per  week,  only  4 
per  cent,  of  the  women  are  in  this  class.  The 
discrepancy  between  the  wages  of  men  and 
women  is  thus  more  striking  in  Kansas  than  in 
either  Massachusetts  or  New  Jersey. 

[78] 


KANSAS  WAGE  STATISTICS 

The  reason  for  this  discrepancy  appears  upon 
an  analysis  of  the  individual  industries. 

III.    The  Statistics  of  Leading  Industries 

The  industries  of  Kansas  are  man  dominated 
because  they  are,  in  almost  all  cases,  industries 
demanding  physical  strength  and  skill.  The 
extent  of  this  male  domination  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  only  four  of  the  industries  report 
more  than  one  hundred  women  employed,  and  of 
these  four,  two,  Soap  and  Glass,  are  small  indus- 
tries reporting  respectively  152  and  146  women. 
The  only  industries — Bookbinding  and  Printing 
and  Slaughtering  and  Meat  Packing — reporting 
the  employment  of  many  women,  are  large  indus- 
tries, with  957  and  973  women,  respectively,  in 
their  establishments.  It  is,  therefore,  in  these 
two  industries  alone  that  any  extensive  statement 
of  the  wages  of  women  can  be  found. 

Pursuant  of  this  situation,  the  Kansas  industries 
will  be  discussed  in  two  separate  groups — first: 
the  two  industries  in  which  the  largest  number  of 
women  are  employed;  second:  the  eight  addi- 
tional industries  reporting  the  employment  of  the 
largest  number  of  men. 

[79] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 


PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  AND  ADULT  FEMALES  RECEIV- 
ING CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  IN  THE  TWO  INDUSTRIES 
EMPLOYING  THE  LARGEST  NUMBER  OF  ADULT  FEMALES- 
KANSAS,  1909  > 

Bookbinding  and  Slaughtering  and  Meat 

Printing  Packing 

Adult  Males  Adult  Females  Adult  Males  Adult  Females 
Classified  Weekly  (16  years 

Earnings  and  over) 

Per  cent. 

Under  $5 8 

$5,  but  under  $6 4 

6,  "        "        7 4, 

7,  "        "        8 4 

8,  "        "        9 6 

9,  "        "      10 6 

10,'   "        "      12 10 

12,    "        "      15 15 

15,    "        "      20 25 

20,  and  over 20 

100 


(16  years 

(16 

years 

(16 

years 

and  over) 

and  over) 

and  over) 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

21 

1 

6 

22 

• 

4 

20 

2 

S4 

13 

4 

15 

7 

4 

11 

6 

26 

5 

6 

27 

18 

2 

20 

5 

3 

12 

2 

* 

4 

— 

Total  employed . 


1,723  957 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 


10,913 


773 


In  the  Printing  industry,  the  men  bear  the 
relation  to  the  women  of  2  to  1;  but  in  the 
Slaughtering  Inciustry,  the  relation  is  14  to  1. 
The  investigations  into  the  statistics  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Jersey  would  lead  one  to  ex- 
pect the  lowest  wages  in  the  industry  in  which  the 
proportion  of  females  is  largest.  Here,  however, 
such  is  not  the  case.  The  Bookbinding  and 
Printing  Industry,  dominated  by  a  strong  union, 

^  Supra,  pages  13  and  26. 
[80] 


KANSAS  WAGE   STATISTICS 

and  demanding  peculiar  qualities  df  skill  and 
dexterity,  emploj's  a  relatively  large  number  of 
skilled  men.  One-fifth  of  all  males  employed  in 
this  industry  receive  weekly  wages  of  more  than 
$20,  while  three-fifths  of  all  of  the  men  employed 
in  the  industry  are  paid  more  than  $10  a  week. 
In  decided  contrast,  only  one-twenty-fifth  of  the 
male  employees  in  the  slaughtering  industry  re- 
ceive more  than  $20  a  week,  while  only  about 
one-third  receive  more  than  $12  per  week.  Two- 
fifths  of  all  of  the  male  printing  employees  receive 
between  $12  and  $20,  while  half  of  the  male 
slaughtering  employees  receive  from  $10  to  $12. 
The  standard  of  wages  in  the  Slaughtering  in- 
dustry is  distinctly  lower — three-quarters  of  the 
wage  earners  are  massed  between  $9  and  $15  per 
week. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  wages  of  adult  females 
are  distinctly  lower  in  the  Printing  industry, 
where  three-fifths  receive  less  than  $7  per  week. 
In  contrast  with  this,  is  the  two-fifths  in  the 
Slaughtering  industry  who  receive  less  than  $7. 
Again,  as  in  the  case  of  Massachusetts,  it  seems 
impossible  to  deduce  any  fixed  rule  regarding  the 
variations,  from  industry  to  industry,  in  the  rela- 
tive wages  of  males  and  females. 

[81] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  MALES  RECEIVING  CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY 
WAGES  IN  THE  INDUSTRIES  EMPLOYING  THE  LARGEST  NUM- 
BERS OF  ADULT  MALES— KANSAS,  1909 1 


Classified  Weekly- 
Earnings 


Under  $5 

$5,  but  under  '■ 

6. 

7, 

8, 


10, 
12, 
15, 

20,  and  over 


Per  cent. 


S 
S 
5 

25 
28 
22 
10 
4 


Cars  and  Shop 

Construction 

Work 

Cement 

Coal  Mining 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

• 

2 

3 

1 

• 

1 

2 

• 

1 

4 

• 

S 

7 

2 

2 

18 

7 

6 

19 

14 

10 

23 

43 

20 

18 

23 

32 

8 

9 

22 

100 


Total  employed . 


1,957  7,552 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 


2,168 


7,875 


Classified  Weekly 
Earnings 

Under  $5 

$5,  but  under  $6 .  . 

6,  " 

7,  " 


0,    " 

10,  " 
12,  " 
15,  " 
20,  and  over 


Per  cent. 
7 


Flour  and  Foundries  and          Glass 

Grist  Mills  Machine  Shops      Factories 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

2  • 

•  2  2 

•  8  8 

•  2  1 
3  3  1 

16  11  15 

27  17  10 

26  32  18 

15  20  17 

6  8  28 


Smelting  and 
Refining 
Per  cent. 
2 
1 
1 


B 

31 

29 

26 

6 


Total  employed . 


2,223  2,503 

*  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

'  Supra,  pages  13-27. 
[82] 


100 
1,862 


100 
2,616 


KANSAS  WAGE  STATISTICS 

There  are  eight  other  industries^  employing 
more  than  1,000  adult  males,  but  practically  no 
adult  females.  Beyond  showing  the  wage  dis- 
tribution within  the  industries,  these  tables  can 
be  of  little  real  service.  Here,  also,  the  variation 
from  industry  to  industry  is  considerable,  and, 
so  far  as  the  statistics  go,  inexplicable.  In  all  of 
the  industries,  the  w^ages  range  rather  high, — at 
least  five-sixths  of  the  employees  earning  more 
than  nine  dollars  a  week.  There  is  also  a  con- 
siderable showing  of  high-paid  men,  particularly 
in  coal  mining  and  glass  factories,  where  there  are 
respectively  22  and  28  per  cent,  of  earners  receiv- 
ing over  $20  per  week.  As  will  be  indicated  in  a 
later  section,  unemployment  is  particularly  preva- 
lent in  these  two  industries,  yet  the  weekly  wages 
are  unusually  high.  An  analysis  of  the  table 
shows,  in  most  of  the  industries,  a  massing  of 
earners  between  the  $9  and  $15  wage.  The  per- 
centages between  these  two  extremes  are: — 

Brick  and  Tile 75  per  cent. 

Cars  and  Shops 60        " 

Cement 64 

Coal  IVIining 36 

Flour 69 

Foundries 60        " 

Glass 43 

Smelting 65 

[83] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

With  the  exception  of  the  two  high-paid  industries 
already  mentioned,  from  three-fifths  to  three- 
quarters  of  all  of  the  adult  males  are  paid  wages 
ranging  from  $9  to  $15  per  week.  Bookbinding 
and  Printing  falls  in  the  same  class  with  Glass 
Factoring  and  Coal  Mining,  showing  30  per  cent, 
of  males  between  $9  and  $15,  while  Slaughtering 
and  Meat  Packing  reports  73  per  cent,  of  the 
males  in  this  class.  The  combined  industries  of 
the  State  reflect  the  general  condition,  with  58 
per  cent,  of  the  adult  male  employees  between  $9 
and  $15  per  week. 

IV.   Summary  of  Kansas  Wages 

The  industrial  conditions  in  Kansas  differ  in 
one  notable  respect  from  those  in  Massachusetts 
and  New  Jersey,— the  industries  of  Kansas  afford 
occupations  for  males  and  not  for  females.  The 
male  dominated  industries  are,  on  the  whole, 
much  higher  paid  than  the  female  dominated 
industries, — a  proposition  elaborated  in  some  de- 
tail in  the  case  of  Massachusetts.  Hence  the 
industries  of  Kansas  would,  by  inference,  pay 
higher  wages  than  the  industries  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  Jersey.  And  in  truth,  a  high  level  of 
wages  is  maintained.     Unfortunately,  no  direct 

[84] 


KANSAS  WAGE   STATISTICS 


comparisons  of  yearly  earnings  are  possible,  be- 
cause the  extent  of  unemployment  is  not  given 
in  the  Kansas  statistics.  Therefore,  in  compiling 
the  figures,  the  weekly  wages  are  multiplied  by  52. 

CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  CLASSUTED  YEARLY  EARNINGS 
(COMPUTED)  FOR  THE  STATE  OF  KANSAS  AND  FOR  THE  THREE 
KANSAS  INDUSTRIES  EMPLOYING  MORE  THAN  FIVE  THOUSAND 

PERSONS— 1909 1 


Cars  and 

Slaughtering  and 

All  Kansas 

Classified  Yearly  Shop  Con- 

Coal 
Mining 

Meat  Packing 

Industries 

Earnings           ~'        *:-- 

sirueiiuu 

^ 

( 

» 

(computed  for 

Adult 

Adult 

Adjilt 

Adult 

Adult 

Adult 

62  weeks) 

Males 

Males 

Males 

Females 

Mules 

Females 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent 

Per  cent 

Under  $260 

— 

3 

1 

6 

2 

25 

316 

1 

4 

• 

10 

3 

42 

364 

3 

5 

3 

44 

5 

61 

"       416 

7 

8 

7 

59 

8 

73 

"       468 

14 

10 

11 

70 

12 

82 

520 

32 

13 

37 

75 

28 

88 

624 

51 

26 

64 

93 

46 

96 

"       780 

74 

46 

84 

98 

70 

98 

"    1,040 

92 

78 

96 

100 

91 

100 

$1,040  and  over. 

8 

22 

4 

— 

9 

— 

Total  employed  . 

7,552 

7,375 

10,913 

773 

50,720 

3,599 

The  above  table  is  the  result  of  the  compilation. 
Cars  and  Shops  and  Mining  are  the  only  two  in- 
dustries aside  from  Slaughtering  employing  more 
than  five  thousand  persons.  These  three  industries, 
employing  more  persons  than  any  other  industries 
in  Kansas,  show  a  marked  wage  variation.  The 
wages  of  males  in  Cars  and  Slaughtering  are  much 

^  Supra,  pages  13-26. 
[  85] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

lower  than  in  Mining  and  are  remarkably  similar. 
In  both  cases  about  one-third  of  the  employees 
receive  less  than  $500;  one-half  less  than  $600; 
three-quarters  less  than  $750;  and  less  than  one- 
tenth  receive  over  $1,000.  There  is  a  very  good 
parallel  between  the  wages  of  males  in  Cars  and 
Shops  and  in  the  entire  State;  then,  too,  the 
wages  of  females  in  Slaughtering  and  in  the 
entire  State  are  similar  in  the  upper  half  of  the 
table.  The  mining  wages  are  much  higher  than 
any  others, — only  a  quarter  of  the  miners  falling 
below  $600,  while  a  quarter  show  above  $1,000. 
The  showing  is  apparent,  however,  rather  than 
real,  because  the  unemployment  in  the  mines  is 
very  great.  The  latest  available  figures^  for 
Kansas  place  the  unemployment  at  37  per  cent, 
of  the  total  working  days  in  1908,  and  26  per 
cent,  of  the  total  in  1907.  Compared  with  the 
unemployment  in  most  industries — 5  or  10  per 
cent. — this  unemployment  appears  very  exces- 
sive. Hence  an  annual  wage,  computed  without 
reference  to  unemployment,  is  more  than  favor- 
able to  the  miner.  As  before  noted,  the  wages  of 
females  are  noticeably  lower  than  those  of  males, 

^  Production  of  coal  in  1908.     Edward  W.  Parker,  U.  S.  Geo- 
graphical Survey,  Washington,  1909.      P.  122. 

[86] 


KANSAS  WAGE  STATISTICS 

— the  proportion  of  females  earning  less  than  $520 
is  exactly  twice  that  of  males. 

Thus,  while  the  wages  of  Kansas  are  appar- 
ently above  the  wages  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Jersey,  the  difference  is  more  apparent  than  real. 
When  the  character  of  the  industry  and  the  fac- 
tor of  unemployment  are  taken  into  account,  the 
Kansas  wages  show  little  higher  than  those  of 
the  two  Eastern  States  for  which  accurate  statis- 
tics are  available. 


[87] 


CHAPTER  VI 
SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

I.   The  Value  of  Special  Reports 

The  material  collected  by  State  labor  bureaus 
is  of  considerable  value,  but  as  has  already  been 
indicated,  its  dependability  is,  in  most  cases, 
greatly  impaired  by  the  varying  methods  of  col- 
lection and  presentation,  and  by  the  impossibility 
of  determining,  in  each  instance,  exactly  what 
method  was  employed.  The  State  reports  pre- 
sent a  picture  of  varying  accuracy,  which  is,  in 
the  case  of  most  States,  little  more  than  a  pic- 
ture. In  the  preceding  chapters,  the  more  accu- 
rate State  statistics  have  been  discussed  in  detail. 
The  present  chapter  includes  a  less  comprehen- 
sive, but  more  specific  group  of  statistics,  con- 
tained in  four  special  reports,  which  give  the 
wages  for  three  industries. 

Within  two  years  the  Wisconsin  Railroad  Com- 
mission, the  Illinois  Bureau  of  Labor  and  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  have  completed 
four    wage    investigations    which    are    detailed, 

[88] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

specific,  and,  at  the  same  time,  sufficiently  com- 
prehensive to  form  the  basis  for  rehablc  deduc- 
tions. These  reports  constitute  the  best  source 
of  information  at  the  disposal  of  a  student  of 
wages  in  the  United  States, — a  statement  which  is 
particularly  true  of  the  two  Federal  investigations. 
Hence  a  chapter  is  devoted  to  their  analj^sis,  and 
great  importance  is  attached  to  their  contents. 

To  be  sure,  these  reports  do  not  justify  specific 
conclusions  for  any  industries  other  than  those 
directly  investigated.  By  inference,  however,  the 
conclusions  regarding  wages  in  the  steel  plant  at 
South  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  may  be  applied  to  the  steel 
plants  at  Philadelphia,  Steelton,  Johnstown  and 
Pittsburg,  and  in  this  manner  a  relative  estimate 
be  made  of  wages  of  the  Steel  industry  in  Penn- 
sylvania. As  Pennsylvania  heads  the  list  of  steel 
producing  States,  conclusions  relative  to  wages  in 
the  Steel  industry  in  Pennsylvania  may  with 
some  precautions  be  applied  to  the  Steel  industry 
at  large, — one  of  the  leading  industries  of  the 
United  States.  While,  therefore,  conclusions 
drawn  by  analogy  from  special  wage  reports  are 
not  absolutely  reliable,  they,  nevertheless,  con- 
tain some  of  the  most  dependable  data  available 
at  the  present  writing. 

[89] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

II.  The  Telephone  Industry  in  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin 

Two  points  of  particular  value  are  emphasized 
in  this  investigation  of  the  Wisconsin  Railroad 
Commission.  The  first  relates  to  wages  paid  to 
females  in  Milwaukee  by  the  Wisconsin  Tele- 
phone Company,  the  second,  to  the  wages  paid 
throughout  the  State  to  the  females  in  trades 
requiring  an  amount  of  skill  and  training  similar 
to  that  demanded  in  the  Telephone  industry. 

The  telephone  investigation  covers  "operators" 
only,  who  are  described  as  "skilled  but  not  highly 
skilled."  Their  distribution  over  the  wage  scale 
is  as  follows: — 

CLASSIFIED  DAILY  WAGES  OF  "OPERATORS"  ONLY- 
EIGHT  CITY  OFFICES .— MILWAUKEE,  WIS.,i  JULY 
15,  1908 

Number  Per  cent. 

Rate  per  Day                                            (Cumulative)  (Cumulative) 

$0.75 55  15 

.85 116  32 

1.00 212  59 

1.15 271  74 

1.25 352  96 

1.35 365  99 

1.50 367  100 

^  Lorenz  et  al.  vs.  Wisconsin  Telephone  Co.,  Before  the  Railroad 
Commission  of  Wisconsin,  December  30,  1908.     P.  49. 

[90] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

An  analysis  of  this  table  shows  that  of  the  total 
number  of  female  telephone  "operators"  in  Mil- 
waukee, on  July  15,  1908,  approximately  one-third 
received  less  than  85  cents  per  day  ($260  per 
year) ;  a  half  received  less  than  $1  per  day  ($325 
per  year);  three-quarters  received  less  than  $1.15 
per  day  ($360  per  year) ;  while  only  one-twentieth 
received  more  than  $1,25  per  day  ($400  per  year). 
Four-fifths  of  the  telephone  operators  of  Mil- 
waukee are  thus  distributed  over  the  wage  scale 
between  $260  and  $400  per  year, — wages  which 
are  equal  to  $5  and  $8  per  week.  The  wages  of  a 
semi-skilled  girl  in  Milwaukee,  therefore,  range 
from  $0.75  to  $1.50  per  day  ($4.50  to  $9.00  per 
week),  with  an  average  wage  of  $1.04. 

In  order  to  determine  whether  the  Milwaukee 
Telephone  operators  were  being  underpaid,  a  care- 
ful comparison  was  made  between  wages  in  the 
Telephone  industry,  and  in  a  group  of  selected 
industries  which  required  a  similar  grade  of  intelli- 
gence and  skill.  The  basis  for  this  comparison 
was  secured  in  a  special  report  from  the  Wiscon- 
sin Bureau  of  Labor  on  female  employees  in  six- 
teen other  occupations,  throughout  the  State, 
involving  three  hundred  and  sixteen  different 
establishments.    In  order  to  make  the  comparison 

[91] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

more  accurate,  the  "highly  skilled"  and  the 
"unskilled"  workers  were  eliminated  from  the 
tables,  leaving  the  following  average  wages  in 
eight  industries  employing  the  largest  numbers  of 
women :  ^ 

Occupation  Total  Employees     Average  Daily  Wages 

Fur  and  Gloves 630  $1,112 

Hats  and  Caps 319  1.930 

Clothing 2,153  1.139 

Paper  and  Pulp 85  1.163 

Chairs 93  1.169 

Awnings  and  Tents 198  .937 

Boxes,  Paper  and  Cigars  .  .  .  234  .965 

Boots  and  Shoes 734  1.115 

The  average  daily  wages,  with  the  exception  of 
Hats  and  Caps  ($1.93)  correspond  very  closely 
with  the  average  for  telephone  operators  ($1.04). 
The  comparison  justifies  the  conclusion  that,  in 
the  State  of  Wisconsin,  a  semi-skilled  girl  will  be 
able  to  earn  wages  of  about  $1.10  per  day,  $6.50 
per  week,  or  $340  per  year,  without  making  any 
allowance  for  unemployment,  which  would  be 
particularly  severe  in  manufacture  of  Hats  and 
Caps,  Clothing  and  Fur  and  Gloves. 

These  conclusions  as  to  the  wages  of  females  in 
Milwaukee  are  somewhat  different  from  the  con- 

1  Supra,  pp.  41-43. 

[92] 


SPECIAL  WAGE   REPORTS 

elusions  derived  from  a  study  of  wages  in  the 
department  stores  of  Illinois  (a  neighboring, 
"North  Central"  State). 

III.   The  Wages  of  Women  in  Illinois 
Department  Stores 

An  exhaustive,  but  rather  discursive  study  of 
women  in  the  Illinois  Department  Stores  in  1908 
was  presented  in  the  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics  for  that  year.^  In  Chicago, 
twenty-six  stores  reported,  and  in  Other  Cities 
twenty-two  stores  reported,  making  forty-eight 
stores  in  all.  The  wages  paid  in  these  stores,  the 
conditions  of  work,  and  the  home  conditions  of 
the  workers  are  dealt  with  in  thirty  tables,  only  a 
few  of  which,  however,  bear  directly  on  this  wage 
study. 

It  is  indeed  unfortunate  that  the  names,  or  at 
least  the  size  of  Other  Cities  is  not  given,  else 
some  interesting  deductions  might  be  made  re- 
garding the  variation  of  women's  wages  with  city 
size.  Some  indication  of  the  variation  from 
city  to  city  may  be  secured,  nevertheless.     The 

'  Biennial  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Illinois,  1908. 
Springfield,  1910.     Pp.  413-592. 

[93] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

"average  weekly  earnings  when  first  employed" 
were :  ^ 

Total  Employees     Earnings 

Chicago 2,118  $6.98 

Other  Cities 438  5.68 

The  variation  in  averages  between  Chicago  and 
Other  Cities  is  thus  about  twenty-five  per  cent. 
The  range  of  wages  among  the  various  Chicago 
stores  is  very  much  greater,  with  a  minimum  of 
$3.98  in  a  store  employing  one  hundred  and  forty- 
nine  women  and  a  maximum  of  $9.45  in  a  store 
employing  seventy  women.  Among  the  stores  in 
Other  Cities  the  average  weekly  earnings  when 
first  employed  range  from  $3  in  a  store  employ- 
ing fifteen  women  to  $7.77  in  a  store  employing 
thirty-four  women.  Thus,  in  Other  Cities  both 
the  total  average  wage  and  the  maximum  and 
minimum  average  wages  are  slightly  lower  than 
in  Chicago.  The  range  of  wages  from  store  to 
store  (more  than  100  per  cent,  over  the  minimum) 
is  equally  great  in  Chicago  and  in  Other  Cities. 

An  idea  of  wages  can  be  secured,  however,  only 
by  a  table  of  classified  earnings, — hence  a  table 
for  the  women  in  the  Department  Stores  at  the 
present  time :  ^ 

^  Supra,  pp.  423-4.  *  Supra,  p.  435. 

[94] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 


Classified  Weekly 
Earnings 

Under  $5 

$5,  but  under  $6.. 


6,  " 

7,  " 

8,  " 

9,  " 
10.  " 
12,  " 
15,  " 
18,  and  over 


7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
12. 
15. 
18. 


Department  Stores  '  Factories 

1908  1906 

Number   Per  cent,  of   Number   Per  cent,  of 
Employed       Total       Employed       Total 


117 
146 
274 
267 
255 
207 
404 
390 
309 
177 


Totals 2,556 


5 

6 
11 
10 
10 

8 
16 
15 
12 

7 

100 


351 
301 
386 
332 
331 
179 
247 
105 
24 
2 

2,258 


15 

13 

17 

15 

15 

8 

11 

5 

1 


100 


One-fifth  of  the  Ilhnois  Department  Store 
workers  are  paid  less  than  $7  a  week;  half  receive 
less  than  $10  a  week.  On  the  other  hand,  one- 
fifth  receive  more  than  $15,  and  one-fourteenth 
more  than  $18  as  weekly  wages.  The  employees 
are  distributed  over  the  wage  scale  from  $6  to 
$18  per  week  with  remarkable  uniformity,  only 
here  and  there  showing  any  great  variation. 

In  order  to  throw  the  wages  of  Department 
Store  workers  into  their  proper  relation,  they  were 
paralleled  by  the  wages  of  women  working  in 
Illinois  factories.  Though  the  Department  Store 
wages  are  for  1908  and  those  of  the  factories  are 

[95] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  1906,  the  wages  will  bear  comparison.  While 
the  numbers  of  women  in  each  case  (Stores  2,556, 
and  Factories  2,258)  are  almost  identical,  the  value 
of  the  comparison  is  greatly  lessened  because  no 
indication  is  furnished  of  the  character  of  the  fac- 
tory work  under  consideration  and  of  the  com- 
parative age  of  the  two  groups  of  workers.  For 
the  women  employed  in  Illinois  Department 
Stores,  therefore,  the  wages  are  apparently  higher 
than  the  wages  of  the  factory  workers.  The 
comparison  is  necessarily  incomplete  because  of 
the  lack  of  information  regarding  the  sources  of 
the  factory  data.  The  Department  Store  wages, 
however,  by  comparison  with  the  wages  of  females 
in  the  industries  of  other  States,  are  very  high, 
while  the  wages  of  the  Illinois  Factory  workers  are 
similar  to  the  wages  of  Factory  workers  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Jersey. 

IV.   The  Investigation  of  Telephone 
Companies 

No  more  effective  wage  material  exists  than 
that  presented  in  the  report  of  the  investigation 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor,  into  the  telephone 
companies  of  the  United  States.     The  statistical 

[96] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

tables,  while  somewhat  detailed,  were  compiled 
from  pay-roll  data  furnished  by  telephone  com- 
panies; hence  they  will  provide  material  for  a 
thorough-going  comparison  of  wages, — (1)  geo- 
graphically; (Ji)  by  sex;  and  (3)  for  a  representa- 
tive industry.  ; 

There  is  considerable  misunderstanding  as  to 
the  wage  variation  between  geographical  areas. 
As  a  later  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  a  thorough 
discussion  of  the  factors  involved  in  the  problem, 
it  is  sufficient  in  the  present  connection  merely  to 
point  out  the  extent  to  which  geographic  location 
influences  wages  in  the  telephone  industry. 

The  material  now  under  consideration  furnishes 
an  excellent  basis  for  a  study  of  geographic  varia- 
tion in  wages.  The  character  of  the  work  per- 
formed by  the  telephone  employees  is  practically 
identical  in  all  cases;  the  general  management 
(Bell  Telephone  Company)  is  the  same;  the  cities, 
with  the  exception  of  New  York,  are  all  fairly 
comparable  in  size;  so  that  the  investigation  lends 
itself  peculiarly  to  an  accurate  comparison  of  the 
wages  paid  for  given  employments  in  widely 
separated  places.  The  comparison  is,  moreover, 
between  twenty-six  cities,  distributed  as  nearly 
as  may  be  over  the  various  geographical  areas  of 

[97] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  United  States.  The  cities,  classified  according 
to  geographic  location,  together  with  the  numbers 
of  operators  employed  and  the  average  monthly 
wages,  appear  in  the  following  table: 

AVERAGE  MONTHLY  RATE  OF  WAGES  OF 
TELEPHONE  OPERATORS^ 

Number  of     Average  Monthly 
City  Operators       Rate  of  Wages 

North  Atlantic 

Philadelphia,  Pa 750  $29.16 

Pittsburg,  Pa 578  27.55 

Baltimore,  Md 346  27.70 

Boston,  Mass 1,625  33.01 

New  York  City,  N.  Y 2,825  36.96 

South  Atlantic 

Washington,  D.  C 285  27.09 

Atlanta,  Ga 139  24.78 

Birmingham,  Ala 73  24.01 

Richmond,  Va 57  25.53 

North  Central 

St.  Louis,  Mo 466  29.44 

Indianapolis,  Ind 180  25.04 

Chicago,  111 3,385  31.69 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 606  27.74 

Cleveland,  Ohio 322  25.59 

Omaha,  Nebr 257  29.52 

^  "Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies,"  Senate  Document  380^ 
Sixty-first  Congress,  Second  Session.  Washington,  Government 
Printing  Office,  1910.     Page  94. 

[98] 


SPECIAL  WAGE   REPORTS 

AVERAGE  MONTHLY  RATE   OF  WAGES   OP 
TELEPHONE  OPERATORS— Cotiiinued 

Number  of     Average  Monthly 
City  Operators        Rate  of  Wages 

South  Central 

Covington,  Ky 66  $26.61 

Louisville,  Ky 119  23.31 

Nashville,  Tenn 175  22.40 

New  Orleans,  La 189  24.37 

Dallas,  Tex 235  27.32 

Western 

Denver,  Colo 339  33.48 

Los  Angeles,  Cal 326  35.09 

Portland,  Oreg 275  34.74 

San  Francisco.  Cal 509  35.84 

Seattle,  Wash 267  35.00 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 82  34.84 

From  this  table  it  appears  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  New  York  ($36.96),  the  range  of  average 
monthly  wages  is  remarkably  small.  In  the 
North  Atlantic  Division  from  $27.55  (Pittsburg) 
to  $33.01  (Boston);  in  the  South  Atlantic  Divi- 
sion from  $24.01  (Birmingham)  to  $27.09  (Wash- 
ington); in  the  North  Central,  $25.04  (Indian- 
apolis) to  $31.69  (Chicago);  in  the  South  Central 
from  $22.40  (Nashville)  to  $27.32  (Dallas);  and 
in  the  Western  Division  from  $33.48  (Denver)  to 
$35.84  (San  Francisco).  If  the  North  Atlantic 
Division   is   compared   with   the   North   Central 

[99] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

Division,  and  the  South  Atlantic  with  the  South 
Central  Division,  the  range  in  wages  is  negligible. 
Even  the  range  between  the  lowest  Southern  city 
(Nashville,  $22.40)  and  the  highest  Northern 
city  (New  York,  $36.96)  is  no  greater  than  might 
be  expected  when  the  size  and  cost  of  living  in 
both  cities  are  considered. 

The  comparison  of  a  similar  employment,  in 
one  industry,  under  one  management,  located  in 
twenty-six  cities  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Western  States,  wages  vary  only  slightly 
from  one  geographic  division  to  another.  Within 
the  same  geographical  area  the  range  of  wages  is 
almost  as  great  as  is  the  range  between  geographic 
divisions.  In  the  Western  States,  while  the  range 
is  less  than  in  any  division,  the  average  wage  is 
several  dollars  above  the  average  in  the  other 
divisions. 

Though  the  wages  of  "telephone  operators" 
lend  themselves,  perhaps,  better  than  any  other 
group  of  average  wages  to  geographic  compari- 
son, they  are  wages  paid  to  women.  It  may 
possibly  be  urged  that  the  wages  of  women  vary 
less  with  location  than  the  wages  of  men.  In 
order  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  such  criticism,  a 
[100] 


SPECIAL  WAGE   REPORTS 


further  analysis  is  presented  of  the  classified 
monthly  wages  of  certain  groups  of  men,  by 
geographical  area.^  These  particular  occupations 
were  selected,  first,  because  they  were  reported 
from  most  of  the  cities;  second,  because  they  are 
highly  specialized,  hence  similar  in  the  different 
sections  of  the  country;  and  third,  because  the 
largest  numbers  of  males  were  listed  under  these 


headings.2 

CABLE 

SPLIC 

ERS 

North  Atlantic 

$45-50 

50-60 

60-70 

70-80 

:o-90 

90-100 

100-126 

Pittsburg 

Boston 

New  York.... 

1 

19 

5 

131 

2 
20 

1 
G 
7 

2 
6 
10 

12 
17 

11 
46 

South  Atlantic 

Atlanta 

Birmingham .  . 

1 

1 
1 

North  Central 

St.  Louis 

Chicago 

Cincinnati .... 
Cleveland .... 
Omaha 

I 

9 

23 
1 
C 
3 

4 

21 

1 
7 

4 

14 

4 

1 

16 
5 

13 
13 
3 

2 

10 

South  Central 

Louisville 

Nashville 

New  Orleans . . 
Dallas 

1 
1 
1 

6 

1 
3 

1 

3 
3 

8 

1 
1 

6 

Western 

Denver 

Los  Angeles . . . 
Portland,  Orcg 
San  Francisco. 
Salt  Lake  City 

6 
20 

11 

2 

6 

10 
5 

3 
4 

1 

1 

6 

1 

5 
3 

15 

7 

24 

3 

1  Supra, 

pp.  123- 

-258. 

^  Supra 

pp. 

180-242. 

[101] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

LINEMEN 

NoHh  Atlantic  $35-40  40-45  45-50  50-60  60-70  70-80  80-90  90-100  100-125 

Pittsburg 22         33         70  3 

Boston 6         41         50         67         35 

New  York 16        70        83         


South  Atlantic 

Atlanta 

Birmingham . . . 


North  Central 
St.  Louis .  . 
Chicago . . . 
Cincinnati . 
Cleveland . 
Omaha . . . . 


Western 

Denver 

Los  Angeles . . . 
Portland,  Oreg 
San  Francisco. 
Salt  Lake  City 


1 

2 

1 

, , 

2 

2 

1 

2 

3 

36 

1 

46 

36 

100 

111 

1 

26 

20 

12 

29 

5 

2 

20 

8 

7 

20 

•• 

S 

5 

34 

1 

16 

3 

7 

18 

1 

25 

5 

6 

1 

43 

21 

6 

3 

2 

22 

12 

1 

16 

10 


FOREMEN 


$50-60     60-70 


North  Atlantic 
Pittsburg. . . . 

Boston 

New  York. . . 

South  Atlantic 

Atlanta 

Birmingham . 

North  Central 
St.  Louis . . . . 

Chicago 

Cincinnati. . . 
Cleveland .  .  . 
Omaha 


-80 

80-90 

90-100 

100-125 

125  and 
over 

3 

7 

21 

2 

2 

3 

6 

1 

1 

8 

5 

16 

27 

1 

1 

30 

26 

4 

4 

17 

1 

5 

25 

38 

33 

4 

7 

9 

2 

1 

10 

1 

1 

1 

i 

S 

2 

[102] 


3 

1 

2 

1 

34 

1 

12 

2 

8 

47 

3 

SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

$50-00    CO-70  70-80  80-00     90-100     100-125     125  and 

South  Central  over 

Louisville ..  1  2             3                1                 2 

Nashville ..  3  2 

New  Orleans 1           ..  3  10               2 

Dallas 4  1 


Wetlem 

Denver . .             1 

Los  Angeles . .             1 

Portland,  Oreg 3            3 

San  Francisco 1 

Salt  Lake  City i 


These  tables  are  remarkably  similar  in  geo- 
graphic grouping.  In  the  North  Atlantic,  South 
Atlantic  and  North  Central  divisions  the  wage 
distribution  is  very  similar  in  all  three  occupations, 
while  in  the  South  Central  Division  it  is  slightly 
lower  and  in  the  Western  Division  slightly  higher 
than  in  the  other  three. 

The  conclusions  reached  from  a  study  of  the 
wages  of  female  telephone  operators  are  thus 
fully  confirmed  by  a  study  of  the  wages  of  Cable 
Sphcers,  Linemen  and  Foremen, — all  male  em- 
ployees. Both  groups  of  statistics  support  the 
statement  that  wages  are  slightly  lower  in  the 
South  Central  and  slightly  higher  in  the  Western 
Division,  and  that  the  variation  in  wages  from 
one  geographical  division  to  another  is  at  most 
sHght. 

[103] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Another  phase  of  the  geographic  variation  of 
wages  appears  in  the  figures  which  show  the 
variations  from  small  to  large  towns  in  the  same 
geographic  area.  These  variations  are  illustrated 
by  a  table  giving  the  wages  of  operators  only,  for 
towns  of  different  sizes  served  by  the  same  com- 
panies.^ 


Towns  under  5,000 

Towns  5,000  and  under  15,000.  . 
Towns  15,000  and  under  25,000. 
Towns  25,000  and  over 


Missouri  and  Kan.sas 

Northwestern 

Telephone  Co. 

Telephone  Co. 

Average 

Average 

Number 

Monthly 

Number 

Monthly 

of 

Rate  of 

of 

Rate  of 

Operators 

Wages 

Operators 

Wages 

346 

$18.21 

62 

$23.71 

21? 

19.92 

149 

25.17 

iia 

22.98 

24 

22.63 

555 

26.03 

325 

27.99 

These  figures  apparently  justify  the  presump- 
tion that  wages  vary  in  amount  directly  with  popu- 
lation. While  not  considerable,  the  variations  are 
somewhat  greater  than  the  variations  between  the 
cities  of  similar  size  in  the  same  geographical 
area.  Since  similar  variations  occur  between 
large  cities  similarly  located,  these  figures  are  far 
from  establishing  a  definite  relation  between  city 
size  and  the  amount  of  wages  in  a  given  industry. 
However,  they  create  a  strong  presumption  in 
favor  of  such  a  relation. 

^  Supra,  p.  94. 

[104] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

The  data  in  this  report  does  not  permit  of  any 
deductions  regarding  the  extent  of  variation  be- 
tween the  wages  of  men  and  of  women,  as  the 
great  majority  of  the  occupations  connected  with 
the  telephone  industry  are  performed  by  either  men 
or  women.  In  a  few  instances,  however,  both  sexes 
are  employed  at  the  same  occupation,  and  while 
it  is  impossible  in  any  instance  to  state  whether 
the  work  performed  by  both  sexes  was  similar  in 
quality  and  in  quantity,  the  presumption  is  that 
it  was  approximately  the  same.  In  view  of  this 
presumption,  the  table  on  page  106  is  most  sig- 
nificant. 

A  study  of  this  table  shows  that  in  every  occu- 
pation under  discussion  the  wages  of  women  are 
much  lower  than  those  of  men.  Of  the  clerks, 
the  most  numerous  group  analyzed,  two-thirds  of 
the  females  receive  wages  between  $30  to  $50  per 
month,  while  the  wages  of  four-fifths  of  the  men 
in  the  same  group  are  over  $50  per  month.  Sim- 
ilar contrasts  appear  in  all  of  the  occupations. 

The  third  point  for  which  tliis  study  affords 
material  is  the  distribution  of  wages  within  an 
industry.  Few  statistics  are  available  to  show  the 
numbers  of  employees  in  a  given  industry  who  are 
receiving  specified  amounts  of  wages,  but  the  be- 
[105] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


a 
o 

Q 


;z;  3 


_<u      o<    ^    «    O    »«       •    O 


«  2       !S 


P     lO  _« 


-'  "*  2  2  S    :  S 


M  a 


CO    t-    O    f"  iH 


o>  r-  tr  ^  2  J:  E: 


t-.    CO    •*    O    CO    £- 


^  r^ 


"d-  ^ 


O   ^  -^  -^  ii  .t; 


-r    fl    V    aj 


[106] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

lief  is  prevalent  that  there  is  "plenty  of  room  at 
the  top."  Tliis  belief  is  rudely  shaken  by  an 
analysis  of  wage  grouping  in  the  Telephone  in- 
dustry. As  the  telephone  investigation  included 
employments  ranging  from  ''messenger"  to  "su- 
perintendent," a  summary  of  the  industry  should 
present  a  very  fair  picture  of  the  distribution  of 
wages  in  one  great  industry. ^ 

MONTm^Y  WAGE— MALES 

Under  $125  and 

$50  50-60  60-70  70-80  80-90  90-100  100-125   Over 

New  York 397  485  617  647  349  330        257         225 

Chicago 618  834  578  634  40C  182         163          53 

San  Francisco 31  23  163  154  46  243          97           28 

Bell  System 2,591  2,760  2,943  2,950  1,357  1,313         902         610 

The  Telephone  industry,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind, 
is  a  skilled  industry  throughout.  The  number  of 
"laborers"  employed  is  very  small.  The  vast 
majority  of  the  employees  are  "linemen,"  "cable 
splicers,"  "foremen,"  "clerks,"  "book-keepers," 
etc.  Nevertheless,  a  study  of  this  table  shows 
that  of  all  the  males  employed  in  this  industry, 
on  the  entire  Bell  System,  19,9%  received  less 
than  $600  per  year;  34.9%  less  than  $725  per 
year;  73.4%  less  than  $1,000  per  year;  and  96.1% 

1  Supra,  pp.  180-242. 
[107] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

less  than  $1,500  per  year,  leaving  3.9%  receiving 
over  $1,500  annually.  Thus  the  vast  majority  of 
the  employees  of  the  Bell  System  receive  wages 
of  less  than  $3  per  day  ($1,000  per  year),  while 
almost  the  entire  group  of  employees  falls  below 
$5  per  day  ($1,500  per  year).  An  analysis  of  the 
separate  figures  for  New  York  and  Chicago  shows 
them  to  be  a  shade  above  the  figures  for  the  entire 
system,  while  the  wages  in  San  Francisco  are  con- 
siderably above  those  for  all  the  Bell  companies. 
The  Federal  Telephone  investigation,  therefore, 
shows  that  wages  vary  only  slightly  from  one 
geographical  location  to  another;  that  wages  in 
the  North  Atlantic,  South  Atlantic  and  North 
Central  divisions  are  very  similar,  a  little  lower 
in  the  South  Central  and  a  little  higher  in  the 
Western  Division;  that  in  similar  employments 
the  wages  of  men  are  much  higher  than  the  wages 
of  women;  and  that  96  per  cent,  of  the  male 
employees  in  a  representative  nation-wide  in- 
dustry receive  less  than  $1,500  a  year. 

V.   The  Bethlehem  Steel  Works 
Investigation 

A  sharply  contested  strike  in  February,  1910, 
led  to  a  Senate  resolution  which  furnished  the 
[108] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

basis  for  one  of  the  most  intensive  modern  wage 
studies.  The  resohition  in  question,  directing  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  to  report  on 
working  conditions  at  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works, 
was  followed  by  a  searching  investigation  and  the 
publication  of  a  special  report  containing  some 
excellent  wage  material.  The  varying  length  of 
the  working  day  and  the  working  week  led  the 
investigators  to  state  all  wages  in  terms  of  wages 
per  hour.  This  method,  although  it  does  not 
furnish  a  basis  for  accurate  data  of  yearly 
earnings,  is  best  adapted  to  a  consideration 
of  these  statistics,  hence  it  will  be  followed 
in  the  tables  appearing  in  the  present  discus- 
sion. 

The  data  collected  at  South  Bethlehem,  con- 
sisting of  a  transcript  of  the  pay-roll  of  9,184 
employees  for  January,  1910,  is  stated  by  wage 
groups  and  by  occupations.  Both  series  of  fig- 
ures are  available  for  this  study. 

The  wages  classified  by  earnings  per  hour  are 
more  specific  and  satisfactory  than  those  classi- 
fied by  employments.  They  are  summarized  on 
next  page. 

An  analysis  of  the  table  may  well  be  prefaced 
by  the  statement  that,  taking  into  consideration 
[109] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 


NUMBER   AND    PER    CENT.    OF 
BETHLEHEM  STEEL  WORKS 
AMOUNTS   PER   HOUR   AND 
EACH   CLASSIFIED   AMOUNT 


Classified  Earnings 
per  Hour 
4  and  under    6  cents . . 


EMPLOYEES  OF  THE 
EARNING  CLASSIFIED 
PER  CENT.  EARNING 
OR  LESSi 


8 
10 

10  "  "  12 
12  "  "  14 
14  "  "  16 
16  "  "  18 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 
30 
32 
34 
36 
38 
42 
46 
60  cents  and  over. 


24 
26 
28 
30 
32 
34 
36 
38 
42 
46 
60 


Total 

a  Apprentices. 

1  Report  on  Strike  at  Bethlehem  Steel  Works 
Govt.  Printing  Office,  Washington,  1910.     P.  60. 

[110] 


Per  Cent,  of 

Employees 

Earning 

Employees 

Specified 

in  Each 

Amount  per 

Group 

Hour  or  Less 

a  97 

a  1.1 

a  38 

a  1.5 

a  100 

a  2.6 

53 

3.1 

2,640 

31.9 

1,528 

48.5 

1,162 

61.2 

551 

67.2 

677 

74.5 

480 

79.8 

681 

86.1 

432 

90.8 

93 

91.8 

256 

94.6 

146 

96.2 

121 

97.5 

52 

98.1 

55 

98.7 

36 

99.1 

65 

99.8 

21 

100.0 

9,184 

100.0 

Works.    Charles  P.  NeiU. 

SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

the  working  hours  at  Bethlehem  works,  fourteen 
cents  per  hour  is  equivalent  to  about  $500  per 
year;  eighteen  cents  to  $G25  per  year;  twenty- 
two  cents  to  $750  per  year;  thirty  cents  to  $1,000 
per  year;  and  fifty-two  cents  to  $1,400  per  year. 
The  longest  hours  were  found,  on  the  whole, 
among  the  lowest  paid  workers,  hence  the  ratio 
between  hourly  pay  and  annual  earnings  changes 
in  the  higher  paid  employments. 

Applying  these  computations  to  the  table  of 
classified  earnings,  it  appears  that  nearly  one- 
third  (31.9%)  of  the  total  number  of  employees 
were  earning  $500  per  year  or  less,  while  nearly  two- 
thirds  (61.2%)  were  earning  ^6'^5  per  year  or  less. 
Of  the  remaining  third  (30%  of  the  total)  nearly 
all  fall  below  an  annual  income  of  $1,000,  leaving 
only  8.2  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  em- 
ployees enjoying  a  yearly  wage  in  excess  of 
$1,000.  These  facts  are  rendered  still  more 
significant  when  it  is  recollected  that  the  steel 
industry  is  demanding  a  large  share  of  highly 
skilled  labor — an  industry  which  is  commonly 
believed  to  pay  high  wages. 

A  still  more  striking  variation  in  wages  paid 
appears  in  a  consideration  of  the  wages  by  de- 
partments. 

[Ill] 


WAGES   IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

CLASSIFIED  EARNINGS  PER  HOUR   (IN  CENTS)  OF  EMPLOYEES  OF 
BETHLEHEM  STEEL  WORKS,  BY  DEPARTMENTS— JANUARY,  1910  i 

12  and  14  aud  IG  and  18  and  20  and  22  and  24  and 

under  under  under  under  under  under  under 

Departments               14  16  18  20  22  24  26 

Electrical 13  13  11  32  13  6  9 

Armor-plate 32  14  13  9  3  8  4 

Machine  Shop  No.  2.         67  154  162  82  82  78  113 

Mill— Puddling 13  19  16  3  13  11  9 

Crucible 38  10  28  9  5  2  2 

Blast  Furnace 108  90  28  14  5  4  4 

Steel  Foundry 202  56  84  14  25  27  55 

Erecting 338  123  12  1  11  2  4 

Yard  Stocking 268  71  50  20  24  9 

These  nine  employments  have  been  selected 
and  arranged  to  show  the  diminution  of  high- 
paid,  and  the  increase  of  low-paid  employees  from 
department  to  department.  The  Electrical  De- 
partment is  comparatively  skilled,  including 
among  its  110  employees  only  38  under  eighteen 
cents  per  hour.  The  Armor  Plate  and  Machine 
Shop  departments  show  a  higher  percentage  of 
low-paid  men, — a  percentage  which  is  constantly 
increased,  until  in  the  Yard  Stocking  department 
only  39,  or  9  per  cent.,  of  the  444  employees  are 
receiving  more  than  18  cents  per  hour. 

The  restricted  scope  of  the  South  Bethlehem 
investigation  renders  unsafe  any  general  conclu- 
sions from  it,  but   for   this   one   plant,   and   by 

1  Supra,  pp.  58-59. 
[112] 


SPECIAL  WAGE   REPORTS 

inference  for  the  steel  mills  of  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  high-paid  man  (earning  $1,000  on  full 
time)  constitutes  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  entire 
working  force,  while  in  the  same  industry  more 
than  half  of  all  the  employees  receive  less  than 
^6^5  per  year.  Within  the  plant,  the  wage  varia- 
tion from  department  to  department  is  con- 
siderable. In  one  department  the  proportion  of 
workers  receiving  more  than  18  cents  per  hour 
($625  per  year)  is  one-third,  while  in  another 
department  the  proportion  is  nine-tenths. 

VI.  Some  Deductions 

The  two  special  reports  on  the  wages  of  females' 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that,  in  the  first  place,  the 
semi-skilled  female  in  the  Factory  or  Telephone 
industry  of  Wisconsin  receives  an  average  wage 
of  $1.10  a  day  ($335  a  year)  if  work  is  continuous; 
that,  in  the  second  place,  the  women  employed  in 
the  Illinois  department  Stores  are  paid  wages  con- 
siderably in  excess  of  this  figure;  that,  finally,  the 
wages  of  factory  workers  in  Illinois,  while  con- 
siderably less  than  the  wages  of  the  department- 
store  workers,  correspond  very  closely  with  the 
wages  of  the  Wisconsin  factory  workers.  Hence 
it  may  be  fairly  concluded  that,  for  two  States  in 
[US] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  North  Central  group  and  by  inference  for 
neighboring  States,  the  semi-skilled  female  who 
is  continuously  employed  earns  less  than  $350 
annually.  From  the  Illinois  report,  the  student 
must  conclude  that  department-store  wages,  when 
compared  with  factory  wages,  are  relatively  high. 

The  intensive  telephone  investigation  made  by 
the  Federal  Government  gives  a  clear  picture  of 
wages  in  one  great  skilled  industry.  The  wages  of 
telephone  operators  (females)  under  one  manage- 
ment vary  slightly  from  city  to  city.  These 
wages  are  noticeably  lower  in  the  South  Central 
and  noticeably  higher  in  the  Western  cities,  yet 
the  variation  from  one  geographic  area  to  another 
is  little  greater  than  the  variation  from  city  to 
city  within  the  same  geographic  area.  Tables  of 
wages  for  various  male  employments  confirm  the 
above  deductions,  which  are  based  on  the  wages 
of  females.  Two  companies  which  served  both 
large  and  small  cities,  reported  a  marked  varia- 
tion in  the  wages  of  operators  with  city  size. 
Whether  this  variation  is  due  to  the  varying 
character  of  the  work  in  large  and  small  towns, 
or  to  the  lower  wage  standards  of  small  towns,  is 
not  clear  from  the  figures. 

The  most  marked  variation  in  the  telephone 
[114] 


SPECIAL  WAGE  REPORTS 

wages  is  the  variation  by  sex.  Even  in  employ- 
ments which  are  apparently  similar,  the  wages  of 
females  are  lower  than  the  wages  of  males.  This 
showing  is  particularly  noticeable  in  the  figures  for 
the  entire  industry. 

The  telephone  employees  are,  on  the  whole, 
highly  paid, — one-fifth  of  the  men  receiving  more 
than  $1,000  per  year,  while  the  remainder  of  the 
employees,  both  male  and  female,  are  distributed 
over  the  upper  wage  groups. 

The  report  on  the  wages  at  South  Bethlehem, 
giving  a  transcript  of  the  pay-rolls  of  a  great 
steel  plant  for  one  month,  shows  that  nine- 
tenths  of  all  of  the  employees  received  less  than 
$1,000  annually.  The  wage  variation  from  de- 
partment to  department  was  particularly  marked. 
In  one  instance,  nine-tenths  of  the  department 
employees  received  less  than  $625  per  year. 

Therefore,  for  females,  for  one  national  skilled 
industry,  and  for  an  individual  steel  plant,  the 
special  wage  reports  furnish  wage  statistics  which, 
when  compared  with  wage  data  from  the  other 
available  sources,  should  permit  of  far-reaching 
conclusions. 


[115] 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE    STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE    WAGES 

I.   The  Significance  of  a  Wage  Average 

As  was  noted  in  a  previous  chapter,  State  wage 
statistics  are  usually  presented  in  the  form  of 
averages — only  in  the  exceptional  case  are  classi- 
fied earnings  published.  To  be  sure,  some  of  the 
labor  bureaus  content  themselves  with  a  bare 
statement  of  minimum  and  maximum  wages,  but 
such  cases  are,  fortunately,  rare.  Since  many  of 
the  wage  reports  deal  with  average  wages  only, 
and  then  in  a  thoroughly  reprehensible  manner, 
it  would  not  be  amiss  to  ask  at  the  outset  what  an 
average  wage  really  is  and  what  importance  may 
be  attached  to  it. 

Webster's  New  International  Dictionarj^  states 
that  an  average  is  "Any  medial  estimate  or  gen- 
eralization derived  from  a  comparison  of  diverse 
specific  cases."  This  thought  may  be  more 
clearly  brought  out  by  an  illustration.  Two 
groups  of  men  are  working, — ten  carpenters  at 
[116] 


THE    STATISTICS   OF    AVERAGE    WAGES 

$3  per  day  and  twenty  laborers  at  $1.50  per  day. 
The  Bureau  of  Labor  writes  to  the  employer, 
requesting  a  statement  of  average  wages.  The 
employer  adds  $3  and  $1.50,  divides  by  2  and 
sends  his  reply— " Average  wages,  $2.25."  The 
employer  has  compared  two  diverse  cases,  and 
reached  an  estimate  based  on  the  comparison. 

If  the  carpenter  helped  the  laborer  to  pay  his 
landlord  and  grocer,  an  average  would  be  a  much 
fairer  statement  of  wages.  Nothing  of  the  kind 
occurs,  however,  since  the  laborer  must  meet  all 
bills  with  his  $1.50,  while  the  carpenter,  to  meet 
like  bills,  has  $3.  Thinking  of  an  "average"  wage 
of  $2.25,  you  say,  "Yes,  they  are  fairly  well  off." 
"They"  meaning  nobody,  your  statement  is 
absurd  unless  you  know  that,  in  reality,  the  car- 
penters are  comparatively  well  off;  the  laborers, 
comparatively  badly  off.  The  average  in  this 
case  merely  misleads,  since  neither  the  carpenter 
nor  the  laborer  is  receiving  $2.25.  The  average 
wage  is  an  abstract  concept,  mathematically  cor- 
rect, but  socially  misleading.  A  statement  that 
the  average  wage  in  the  building  trades  is  $2.25 
a  day  leads  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  build- 
ing trade  employees  can  provide  for  themselves 
a  certain  quantity  of  coal,  potatoes,  woollen  cloth- 
[117] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ing  and  the  other  necessaries  of  Hfe.  In  other 
words,  men  inevitably  think  of  wages  in  terms  of 
purchasing  power,  yet  this  $2.25  wage  does  not 
represent  the  purchasing  power  of  any  one  individ- 
ual. The  average  wage  therefore  represents 
neither  purchasing  power  nor  the  wage  act- 
ually paid,  but  a  wage  falling  somewhere  be- 
tween actual  wages.  When  you  hear,  therefore, 
that  average  annual  wages  in  a  State  are  $500, 
you  may  know  that  some  workers  are  receiving 
more  than  $500  and  some  less  than  $500,  but 
that  no  one  laborer  is  necessarily  receiving  $500. 
Nevertheless,  as  the  State  labor  bureaus  furnish 
average  wages,  a  desire  to  learn  what  wages  really 
are  must  lead  to  such  utilization  of  these  averages 
as  is  scientifically  possible.  Fortunately,  some  use 
of  the  averages  is  permissible.  For  example,  if 
all  of  the  States  compile  their  wages  in  a  similar 
manner,  the  resulting  averages  are  certainly 
comparable,  though  they  may  not  accurately 
represent  the  actual  amount  of  wages  paid.  If, 
in  addition,  a  State  gives  both  average  and  classi- 
fied earnings  (e.  g.  Massachusetts  and  New  Jer- 
sey), and  if  the  averages  in  Pennsylvania  corre- 
spond closely  with  the  averages  for  New  Jersey, 
it  may  fairly  be  inferred  that  absolute  wages  in 
[118] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

the  two  States  are  similar.    That,  in  fact,  is  the 
conclusion  which  may  ultimately  be  reached. 

But  all  wage  averages  are  not  useless.  To  be 
sure,  if  the  total  amount  paid  in  wages  in  the 
State  of  Illinois  be  divided  by  the  total  number  of 
wage  earners,  the  resulting  average  is  meaning- 
less. On  the  other  hand,  average  wages  for  the 
Bituminous  Coal  Mining  industry  would  be  fairly 
worthy  of  attention,  because  in  this  industry  the 
vast  majority  of  employees  do  approximately  the 
same  kind  of  work  and  earn  about  the  same  wages. 
Carrying  the  illustration  one  step  further,  the 
average  wage  of  the  brakemen  on  a  certain  divi- 
sion, or  of  the  carpenters  on  a  certain  operation, 
would  be  a  very  real  picture  of  actual  conditions, 
because  the  wages  would  be  practically  the  same 
for  all  of  the  men  in  so  narrow  an  employment. 
An  average  wage  for  an  entire  State,  except  for 
comparison  with  a  State  having  similar  industries, 
is  valueless;  an  average  for  a  great  industry  may 
be  used  for  comparison  with  similar  industries, 
although  when  standing  alone  it  means  very 
little;  while  an  average  for  one  employment 
within  a  given  industry  may  be  very  valuable. 


[119] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

II.   Methods  for  Computing  Average 

Wages 

An  average  may  be  either  a  simple  mathemati- 
cal average,  or  a  weighted  average.  The  simple 
average,  by  far  the  least  satisfactory,  is  secured 
by  adding  the  rates  of  wages  and  dividing  by  the 
number  of  different  groups  of  wage  earners. 
Thus,— 

10  Carpenters $3 .  00  per  day 

20  Laborers 1 .50   "      " 

Total $4.60 

Average 2 .  25 

The  greatest  opportunity  for  error  exists  in  such 
a  computation,  because  there  are  many  more 
laborers  than  there  are  carpenters.  Hence  it  is 
not  fair  to  consider  the  rates  of  wages  alone, 
unless  the  same  numbers  of  both  trades  are 
employed.  This  objection  has  led  to  the  exten- 
sive use  in  wage  reports  of  the  "weighted  aver- 
age," which  depends  upon  the  numbers  employed 
as  well  as  upon  the  wage  rate,  thus, — 

10  Carpenters  at  $3.00 $30.00 

20  Laborers  at        1.50 30.00 

30  Workers— Total $60.00 

Weighted  average 2 .  00 

[1^0] 


THE    STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

The  adoption  of  the  weighted  average  in  this 
case  reduces  "average  wages"  from  $2.25  to 
$2.00.  It  is  undoubtedly  the  most  rehable  form 
of  average,  and  is  most  generally  employed. 

The  "average  wage,"  no  matter  how  computed, 
must  be  used  with  great  care.  Yet,  in  view  of 
the  paucity  of  classified  wage  statistics  and  the 
prevalence  of  average  wage  statistics,  an  attempt 
must  be  made  to  utilize  the  average  statistics 
available.  Since  these  exist  primarily  in  the 
reports  of  the  State  labor  bureaus,  although  the 
Federal  Government  has  issued  several  average 
wage  studies  which  will  also  be  utilized,  the  next 
few  pages  will  be  devoted  to  an  analysis  of  those 
State  reports  which  publish  average  wages. 

III.   Michigan,  New  Hampshire  and 
Rhode  Island 

The  wage  statistics  of  Michigan,  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Rhode  Island  will  be  commented  on, 
but  not  studied.  The  average  wages  for  Michigan 
include  the  entire  State,  together  with  certain 
leading  cities.  Although  they  are  very  general, 
and  have  been  mentioned  in  another  connection, 
they  will  be  briefly  reviewed  here. 
[121] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


AVERAGE  DAILY  WAGES  IN  MICHIGAN— 1909 
BY  GROUPS  OF  EMPLOYMENTS* 


Entire  State 


Detroit 


Grand  Rapids 


Employments 


Number 


Superintendents 

9.194 

Foremen 

9,213 

Male  Office  Employees 

9,862 

Female  "              " 

6,619 

Male  Factory  Workers 

209,967 

Female    "              " 

42,789 

Boys  under  16 

2,746 

Girls  under  16 

1,407 

Total 

291,799 

Average 

Daily 

Wage 

$5.07 

3.31 

2.10 

1.57 

2.06 

1.14 

.88 

.71 


Number 


78,402 

22,318 

1,493 

1,014 


Average 
Daily 
Wage 


Number 


18,132 

3,786 

213 

109 


Average 
Daily 
Wage 


.98        103,287      $2.02         22,238       $1.90 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  the  average 
daily  wage  of  the  adult  male  industrial  worker  in 
Michigan  is  $2.06;  that  of  the  adult  female  is 
$1.14;  while  the  wages  of  boys  and  girls  under 
sixteen  years  are  88  and  71  cents  respectively. 
In  the  two  largest  cities  of  the  State  wages  are, 
if  anything,  slightly  below  the  wages  of  the  entire 
State.  The  variation  may  be  due  to  the  varying 
character  of  the  industries  in  the  State  at  large 
and  in  the  great  cities,  or  it  may  be  that  lower 
wages  are  paid  in  the  cities  than  in  the  country 
district;  The  statistics  are  at  best  inconclusive 
on  this  point. 

^  Annual  Report  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  1910.  Lansing, 
1910.     Pp.  188-191. 

[  122] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE    WAGES 

A  somewhat  greater  detail  appears  in  the  aver- 
age wage  statistics  of  New  Hampshire.  The 
figures  are  stated  in  the  form  of  earnings  per 
week;  but,  as  no  statistics  of  unemployment  are 
given,  the  only  method  of  computing  yearly 
earnings  is  to  multiply  the  weekly  earnings  by 
50,  thus  allowing  for  an  unemployment  of  4  per 
cent. — a  very  low  estimate,  as  is  shown  by  unem- 
ployment in  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey. 

The  wage  statistics  of  New  Hampshire  are  given 
for  adult  males,  for  adult  females  and  for  children 
under  16  years.  Classified  by  the  average  weekly 
wage,  the  eighteen  New  Hampshire  industries 
employing  more  than  500  males  are  shown  in  the 
statement  on  the  next  page. 

A  study  of  this  table  shows  that,  of  the  three 
industries  employing  the  largest  numbers,  all  fall 
below  an  average  wage  of  $650,  though  the  fourth 
largest  industry  heads  the  list  with  an  average 
wage  of  $838.50.  Eight  of  the  eighteen  industries 
show  average  wages  of  $650  or  under;  sixteen 
show  average  wages  of  $750  or  under,  while  two 
of  the  eighteen  show  averages  above  $800. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  study  of  the  women  at 
work  in  New  Hampshire  shows  average  wages  far 
below  those  paid  to  the  men.  The  numbers  of 
[  123  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 


AVERAGE  EARNINGS   IN   THE   INDUSTRIES  EMPLOYING   MORE 
THAN  /iOO  ADULT  MALES.      NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  1908  ^ 


Industries 

Paper  and  Pulp 

Granite 

Locomotives,  Cars,  Etc. . . . 

Castings 

Building  and  Construction . 

Electricity  and  Gas 

Woollens 

Hosiery 

Dress  Goods 

Machines 

Brick 

Lumber 

Boots  and  Shoes 

Bobbins 

Boxes  (wooden) 

Cotton  Cloth 

Furniture 

Printing  and  Publishing .  .  . 


women  employed  in  New  Hampshire  are  com- 
paratively small,  hence  only  six  industries  show 
more  than  500  adult  females.  The  annual  earn- 
ings are  computed  from  the  weekly  earnings  by 
the  same  method  that  was  employed  in  the  case 
of  the  men  ,2 — 

^  Biennial  Report,  New  Hampshire  Bureau  of  Labor,   1909-10. 
Published  1910.     Pp.  17-53. 
^  Supra,  pp.  17-53. 

[124] 


Total  Adult 

Average  Yearly 

Males 

Earnings 

Employed 

(Computed) 

3,964 

$838.50 

1,611 

805.50 

2,101 

750.50 

647 

735.50 

1,011 

729.50 

560 

729.50 

1,966 

725.00 

1,002 

694.00 

507 

671.00 

1,477 

665.50 

529 

650.00 

7,355 

637.00 

9,159 

634.00 

593 

590.50 

1,467 

566.50 

13,825 

554.00 

947 

549.50 

506 

535.50 

THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

Numbers  of    '  Average  Yearly 

Adult  Females  Earnings 

Industries                            Employed  (Computed) 

Boots  and  Shoes 4,093  $457.00 

Underwear ■ 622  451.00 

Clothing 672  443.50 

Woollens 927  426.00 

Cotton  Cloth '  12,154  407.50 

Hosiery 1,493  407.00 

Thus,  in  the  six  New  Hampshire  industries 
employing  the  greatest  numbers  of  females,  the 
range  in  average  wages  is  very  slight, — from  $407 
to  $457  annually.  Comparing  this  table  with 
that  containing  the  average  wages  of  males,  it 
appears  that  the  wages  of  males  range  nearly 
$200  per  year,  or  50  per  cent,  higher  than  the  aver- 
age weekly  wage  of  females. 

The  number  of  minors  employed  in  New 
Hampshire  is  very  small,  exceeding  63  in  only 
two  industries — Boots  and  Shoes  and  Cotton 
Cloth — in  which  the  average  weekly  wages  of 
minors  are  respectively  $5.27  and   $4.83. 

The  Rhode  Island  authorities  present,  for  a 
select  group  of  industries,  a  statement  of  weekly 
wages,  which  amount,  virtually,  to  averages. 

The  figures  are  given,  for  example,  for  "cotton 
goods — all  wage  earners,"  as  between  $7  and  $8 
per  week.  There  is  no  indication  of  the  method 
[125] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

employed  in  securing  the  resultant,  hence  the 
figures  would  be  accepted  with  considerable  hes- 
itancy were  it  not  for  the  similarity  between  them 
and  the  average  wage  statistics  of  other  States. 
In  the  entire  State  of  Rhode  Island  the  average 
yearly  earnings  of  all  wage  earners  (4  per  cent, 
deducted  for  unemployment)  would  be  from  $450 
to  $500;  for  adult  males,  $500  to  $550;  for  adult 
females,  $350  to  $400;  and  for  children  under  16, 
$150  to  $200.^  Thus  the  average  wages  in  Rhode 
Island  are  very  similar  to  those  in  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Massachusetts.  As  the  Massachusetts 
figures,  which  are  far  more  reliable  than  those 
from  Rhode  Island,  will  be  carefully  analyzed  in 
a  later  section,  no  attempt  will  be  made  at  this 
point  to  draw  further  conclusions  from  the  Rhode 
Island  statistics. 

IV.  Pennsylvania 

The  Pennsylvania  Bureau  of  Industrial  Statis- 
tics, which  publishes  average  wages  only,  reports 
that  in  the  mines  and  factories  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1909  there  were,  exclusive  of  "office  help," 
679,926  adult  males,  whose  average  annual  earn- 

^  Annual  Report  Commissioner  of  Industrial  Statistics,  Rhode 
Island,  1908.     Providence,  1909.     Pp.  516-17. 

[126] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   A\^RAGE   WAGES 

ings  were  $550;  89,G99  adult  females  with  annual 
earnings  of  $300;  and  22,394  minors  (under  16 
years  of  age)  with  annual  earnings  of  $190.^  i 

The  Pennsylvania  figures  present  a  much  more 
accurate  analysis  than  those  of  Michigan  or  New 
Hampshire,  as  they  are  stated  by  industries  as  well 
as  by  age  and  sex.  In  order  to  make  this  analysis 
effective,  the  figures  will  be  separated  on  a  basis 
of  age  and  sex,  and  a  showing  made  of  the  wages  of 
(1)  men,  (2)  women,  and   (3)  minors  (under  16). 

The  wages  of  men  in  Pennsylvania  vary  con- 
siderably from  industry  to  industry,  as  is  shown 
by  the  following  statement  of  the  ten  industries 
employing  the  largest  numbers  of  adult  males.* 

Adult  Average  Average 

Males  Yearly  Daily 

Industry  Employed  Earnings  Earnings 

Bituminous  Coal  Mining 171,987  $525.79  $2.01 

Anthracite  Coal  Mining 166,227  503.85  2.36 

iron  and  Steel  Rolling 114,803  646.98  2.22 

Pig  Iron 14,904  587.65  1.96 

Glass— Bottles  and  Table  Ware  .  11,419  512.98  2.11 

Cars— Wheels  and  Castings 10,899  585.86  1.99 

Cement 9,420  498.03  1.63 

Iron  and  Steel  Ingots  and  Castings  9,074  623.73  2.15 

Tin  Plate 8,914  716.11  2.91 

Locomotives 8,360  690.63  2.26 

^  Annual  Report  Sec'y  Internal  Affairs,  Part  III,  Industrial  Statis- 
tics, 1909.     Hamsburg,  1910.     Pp.  381-85. 

[127] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

"Office  help"  has  been  omitted,  and  *'wage 
earners"  alone  considered,  so  that  comparisons 
with  other  States  might  be  made.  The  two  great 
industries  of  Pennsylvania,  mining  and  steel  mak- 
ing, show  average  wages  varying  considerably, 
yet  nowhere  falling  below  $500,  nor  rising  above 
$650.  At  the  same  time,  the  range  in  the  daily 
wage  is  even  less, — from  $1.96  to  $2.36,  while 
the  industry  with  the  lowest  yearly  earnings 
shows  the  highest  daily  earnings.  The  variation 
between  annual  and  daily  earnings  is  of  course 
due  to  unemployment  in  the  mines  and  Sunday 
work  in  the  steel  mills.  The  real  wage  is  however 
the  product  of  the  daily  wage  times  the  number  of 
days  worked,  hence  the  yearly  and  not  the  daily 
wage  is  the  real  criterion  in  Pennsylvania  statis- 
tics. 

Turning  now  to  the  wages  of  adult  females  in 
Pennsylvania,  it  appears  that  the  average  sinks 
far  below  that  of  the  men.  The  ten  industries 
(exclusive  of  Philadelphia  textiles)  employing  the 
greatest  number  of  females,  in  order  of  the  num- 
ber employed,  are,^  — 

>  Annual  Report  Sec'y  Internal  Affairs,  Part  III,  Industrial  Sta- 
tistics. 1909.      Harrisburg,  1910.      Pp.  381-85. 
[  128  ] 


Average 

Average 

Yearly 

Daily 

Earnings 

Earnings 

$290.09 

$0.96 

250.89 

.88 

200.08 

.69 

254.00 

.90 

291.00 

1.03 

309.24 

1.06 

357.35 

1.75 

340.59 

1.16 

231.59 

.95 

305.23 

.99 

THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

Adult 
Females 

Industry  Employed 
Silk— Thrown    (Dress  Goods) ...      11,651 

Hosiery 11,032 

Silk— Thro^^•n 5,577 

Knit  Goods — Underwear 4,239 

Woollen  and  Worsted 3,683 

Shoes 2,868 

Silk  Dress  Goods 2,528 

Hats  and  Caps 1,921 

Glass— Bottles  and  Table  Ware.        1,877 
Cotton  Goods 1,870 

The  average  wage  of  these  adult  females  is 
extremely  low,  in  no  case  exceeding  $400,  and  in 
six  of  the  ten  cases  falling  below  $300.  That  this 
low  wage  is  not  due  to  luiemployment  is  shown  by 
the  very  low  average  daily  wages.  That  these 
Pennsylvania  figures  are  probably  accurate  is 
shown  by  a  comparison  with  the  wages  of  adult 
female  factory  workers  in  Wisconsin.^  In  the  gen- 
eral industries  of  the  State,  requiring  semi-skilled 
work,  the  wages  averaged  slightly  more  than  one 
dollar  a  day,  an  average  which  is  maintained  in 
Pennsylvania  if  the  statistics  of  the  Philadelphia 
textile  factories  are  included.  The  average  wages 
of  adult  females  in  Wisconsin  ($1.10  per  day)  are 

^  See  Chapter  VI,  Special  Wage  Reports,  Section  II. 

[129] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


therefore  strikingly  similar  to  the  average  wages  of 
adult  females  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  comparatively  large  number  of  minors 
employed  in  the  manufacturing  industries  of 
Pennsylvania  renders  an  analysis  of  their  wages 
most  interesting.  The  following  ten  industries 
(exclusive  of  Philadelphia  textiles)  employed  the 
largest  numbers  of  minors.^  — 

Average  Average 
Minors  Yearly  Daily- 
Industries  Employed  Earnings  Earnings 

Anthracite  Mining 3,109  $194.75  $0.91 

Silk— Thrown  (Dress  Goods) ....  2,231  155.18  .52 

Silk— Thrown 1,976  142.66  .49 

Hosiery 1,837  180.44  .63 

Glass— Bottles  and  Table  Ware.  1,694  187.38  .78 

Bituminous  Mining 1,016  246.86  .94 

Woollen  and  Worsted 792  194.22  .69 

Iron  and  Steel  Rollmg 657  255.11  .88 

Shoes 507  172.19  .59 

Silk  (Dress  Goods) 467  187.79  .62 

Two  of  the  ten  Pennsylvania  industries  em- 
ploying the  largest  numbers  of  minors,  therefore, 
pay  average  wages  of  more  than  $200  annually. 
The  other  industries  fall  as  low  as  $143. 

Unsatisfactory  as  are  the  Pennsylvania  average 
wage  statistics,  because  of  their  exclusion  from 

^  Ann.  Rep.  Sec'y  Internal  Affairs,  1909,  Part  III,  Industrial  Statis- 
tics.    Harrisburg,  1910.     Pp.  381-385. 

[130] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

the  general  tables  of  the  Philadelphia  textile 
industries,  and  incomplete  as  they  may  doubtless 
be,  in  their  failure  to  include  many  persons  gain- 
fully employed,  they  are,  nevertheless,  very  fair 
average  wages,  since  they  give  a  general  idea  of 
the  wage  situation,  by  age  and  sex,  not  only  in 
the  State  at  large,  but  in  specific  industries  as 
well. 

V.  Average  Wages  in  Massachusetts 

From  the  average  wage  statistics  published  by 
Massachusetts  it  appears  that  there  are  in  that 
State  480,134  wage  earners  (323,308  males  and 
156,826  females),  employed  in  6,044  establish- 
ments, and  receiving  an  average  yearly  wage  of 
$510.71.^  No  separate  average  wages  are  given 
for  males,  females  and  minors,  but  the  total 
average  annual  earnings  are  presented  by  indus- 
tries, by  cities,  by  towns,  and  by  counties. 

As  the  average  wages  of  Massachusetts  are 
similar  to  the  averages  cited  from  other  States, 
but  one  deduction  from  them  will  be  made  at 
this  point.  Average  annual  earnings  seem  to 
vary  immensely  with  the  proportion  of  women  em- 

^  Statistics  of  Manufactures  for  the  Year  1908.  Public  DocumeDt 
No.  36.     Boston,  1909.     P.  2. 

I  131  1 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ployed  in  any  industry;  hence  the  wages  of  women 
must  be  generally  lower  than  the  wages  of  men. 

The  proportion  of  men  and  women  in  the  indus- 
tries of  the  State  at  large  is  2  of  men  to  1  of 
women,  with  an  average  wage  of  $510.71.  The 
following  industries,  dominated  by  women,  report 
wages  considerably  under  this  average.^ 

The  figures  in  parentheses  under  each  number  of 
employees  represent  the  approximate  relation 
which  each  pair  (male  or  female)  of  figures  bears 
to  one  another. 


Average 

Annual 

Males 

Females 

Earnings 

Boxes — Fancy  and  Paper .... 

901 

2,014 

$393.92 

(1) 

(2) 

Brooms  and  Brushes 

620 

(2) 

945 

(3) 

343.48 

Confectionery 

1,342 

3,444 

328.97 

(2) 

(5) 

Hosiery  and  Knit  Goods 

2,559 

6,581 

399.89 

(2) 

(5) 

Shirts 

279 

1,294 

378.25 

(1) 

(5) 

While  there  is,  in  these  industries,  a  varying 
degree  of  skill,  they  are  approximately  equal  in 
average  earnings, — all  under  $400;  and  they  are 
all  dominated  by  women. 

^  Supra,  pp.  2-9. 

[  132  ] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 


Average 

Annual 

Females 

Earnings 

1,907 

$558.40 

(2) 

451 

001.03 

(1) 

2,423 

591.C5 

(1) 

1,265 

617.01 

(1) 

912 

739.45 

(2) 

Sharply  contrasted  with  these  averages,  are  the 
earnings  in  the  industries  dominated  by  men.^ 


Males 
Electrical  Machinery 8,631 

(9) 
Foundry  and  Machine  Shop . . .      30,661 

(65) 
Jewelry 4,268 

(2) 
Printing  and  Publishing 2,148 

(2) 
Tobacco,  Cigars  and  Cigarettes        2,263 

(5) 

Here  again  there  is  variation  in  skill  and  in 
trade-union  strength;  nevertheless,  the  man- 
dominated  industries  pay  wages  considerably 
above  the  wages  paid  in  industries  which  are 
dominated  by  women. 

As  to  the  variation  in  wages  from  large  to 
small  cities,  the  Massachusetts  figures  will  be 
discussed  in  greater  detail,  in  a  later  chapter.^ 
At  this  point  it  need  only  be  remarked  that  the 
variation  from  large  to  small  centres  of  population 
is  irregular,  and  does  not  follow  population  size. 

^  Supra,  pp.  2-9. 

^  See  Chapter  VIII,  Geographical  Distribution  of  Wages,  Section 

m. 


1 133  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

While  the  average  wage  statistics  of  Massa- 
chusetts "are  in  all  cases  theoretical,"  obtained 
"by  dividing  the  total  amount  paid  in  wages 
during  the  year  by  the  average  number  of  persons 
employed,"^  they  nevertheless  admit  of  compari- 
son between  industry  and  industry  and  between  in- 
dustries in  different  cities.  This  comparison  clearly 
shows  the  inverse  ratio  between  the  proportion 
of  women  and  the  rate  of  wages  in  an  industry. 

VI.   New  Jersey  Average  Wage  Statistics 

The  average  wage  statistics  of  New  Jersey,  like 
those  of  Massachusetts,  refer  to  all  employees, 
irrespective  of  age  and  sex.  In  the  2,127  estab- 
lishments of  New  Jersey,  278,964  persons  were 
employed  at  an  average  annual  wage  of  $500.14.2 
This  average  wage  is  thus  slightly  lower  than  that 
for  all  of  the  industries  of  Massachusetts  ($510.71). 

The  New  Jersey  industries  present  some  marked 
differences  from  those  of  Massachusetts.  In  the 
first  place,  the  industries  of  New  Jersey  are  diver- 
sified so  that  with  the  exception  of  the  Silk, 
Woollens  and  Machinery   industries,  no   one   in- 

^  Statistics  of  Manufacture  for  the  Year  1908.  Public  Document 
No.  36.     Boston,  1909.     P.  xxiv. 

2  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  1909.  Camden,  1910.  Pp. 
74-5. 

I  134  ] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   A^^ERAGE   WAGES 

dustry  employs  more  than  10,000  persons.  This 
situation  is  essentially  different  from  INIassachu- 
setts,  where  Cotton  Goods  and  Boots  and  Shoes 
employ  a  quarter  of  all  the  persons  engaged  in 
Massachusetts  industries.  As  in  Massachusetts, 
the  larger  New  Jersey  industries  show  an  average 
wage  considerably  under  $600. 

A  study  of  wages  in  specific  New  Jersey  indus- 
tries does  not  show  average  wages  in  these 
industries  to  be  markedly  at  variance  with  those 
of  Massachusetts.  By  way  of  comparison,  the 
following  industries  are  presented.  They  were  the 
largest  industries  which  were  reported  from  both 
Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey. 

STATISTICS    OF    AVERAGE    WAGES    IN    CERTAIN    MASSACHUSETTS 
AND  NEW  JERSEY  INDUSTRIES 

Massachusetts  (1908)  »  New  Jersey  (1909)  ' 

Industries  Number   Average  Annual   Number   Average  Annual 

Employed  Earnings        Employed  Earnings 

Chemicals 1,047  $588.05  7,042  $521.03 

Clothing 4,083             481.24  1,153  382.01 

Cotton  Goods 90,935             439.34  0,216  322.70 

Electrical  Goods 10,538             558.40  5,170  628.52 

Foundry  and  Machine 31,112             601.03  7,350  534.59 

Jewelry 6,691             591.05  3,103  601.71 

Printing  and  Publishing 3,413             617.01  1,385  579.17 

Rubber  Goods 5,763             498.04  7,016  621.17 

Shirts 1,573             378.25  3,157  366.81 

Silk  and  Silk  Goods 3,235             429.96  20,356  444.61 

^  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  Massachusetts.  Boston,  1909.  Pp. 
2-11. 

^Bureauof  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  1909.  Camden,  1910.  Pp.  74-5. 
[135] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

"While  the  average  annual  earnings  of  all  Mass- 
achusetts industries  differ  very  slightly  from  those 
of  New  Jersey,  these  ten  industries  show  a 
considerably  greater  variation.  Six  of  the  ten 
industries  report  higher  wages  from  Massachu- 
setts than  from  New  Jersey.  Whether  this  varia- 
tion is  due  to  a  varying  type  of  industry  or  to 
actual  differences  in  wages,  the  statistics  do  not 
show;  but  there  is  unquestionably  some  variation 
in  classification,  shown  by  a  study  of  the  two 
groups  of  statistics. 

A  similar  comparison  between  the  ten  indus- 
tries in  each  State  employing  the  largest  num- 
bers of  persons  appears  on  the  following 
page. 

These  industries  are  arranged  according  to  the 
numbers  employed.  In  both  States  the  leading 
industry  reports  an  average  wage  under  $450;  in 
both  the  second  industry  falls  between  $550  and 
$600;  but  in  the  remaining  ones,  a  very  con- 
siderable difference  appears.  Still,  there  is  but 
one  industry  in  Massachusetts  and  but  two  in 
New  Jersey  reporting  an  average  annual  wage  of 
more  than  $600;  while  in  seven  Massachusetts 
industries  and  in  four  New  Jersey  industries,  the 
average  falls  below  $500. 

L  136  ] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE    WAGES 

AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS  IN  THE  TEN  INDUSTRIES  EMPLOY- 
ING THE  LARGEST  NUMBER  OF  PERSONS— MASSACHUSETTS  AND 
NEW  JERSEY 


Massachusetts  (1908)  i 

I 

New  Jersey  (1909)* 

Average 

Average 

Industries 

Total 

Annual 

Industries 

Total 

Annual 

Employed  Earnings 

Employed  Earnings 

Cotton  Goods 

90,935 

$439.34 

Silk  (broad  and  rib- 

Boots and  Shoes. .  . 

69,'250 

662.59 

bon)  

20,.S50 

$444.61 

Foundry   and   Ma- 

Machinery  

10,882 

598.81 

chine  Shop 

31,112 

601.03 

V/oollen  and 

Worsted  Goods .... 

26,878 

444.35 

Worsted  Goods.. 

10,748 

390.27 

Woollen  Goods .... 

15,091 

455.49 

Cigars  and  Tobacco 

8,754 

313.08 

Paper  and  Wood 

Oils 

8,151 

617.21 

Pulp 

Electrical  Supplies. 

11,390 

489.02 

Glass 

7,035 

620.30 

10,538 

558.40 

Drawn  Wire  and 

Leather 

9,227 

637.46 

Wire  Cloth 

7,582 

407.06 

Hosiery  and 

Foundry,  Iron 

7,350 

534.59 

Knit  Goods 

9,140 

399.89 

Chemical 

Dyeing  and  Finish- 

Products  

7,042 

621.03 

ing  Textiles 

7,069 

467.18 

Rubber  Goods .... 

7,016 

621.17 

In  Massachusetts  there  were  59  industries  and 
in  New  Jersey  61  industries  employing  more  than 
1,000  persons.  A  comparison  of  the  two  groups 
yields  interesting  results. 

The  numbers  of  indiistries  are  in  both  States 
remarkably  similar  and  in  both  cases  the  distri- 
bution is  quite  uniform.  Massachusetts  is  again 
slightly  higher  than  New  Jersey,  though  the  dis- 
crepancy is  not  of  serious  extent. 

*  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  Massachusetts.     Boston,  1909.     Pp. 
2-11. 

2  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  1909.     Camden,  1910.     Pp. 
74-5. 

[137] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

AVERAGE    WAGES    IN    THE    MASSACHUSETTS    AND    NEW    JERSEY 
INDUSTRIES  EMPLOYING  MORE  THAN   1000  PERSONS 

Massachusetts  >  New  Jersey  ^ 

1908  1909 

Number  of  Number  of 

Average  Wage                                     Industries    Per  cent.  Industries    Per  cent. 

Under  $450 15                25  23                37 

$450-$500 13                22  6                 10 

500-  550 6                10  7                12 

650-600 11                 18  11                 18 

600-650 6                 10  10                  16 

650-  700 2                  4  12 

700-750 4                  7  2                  3 

Over    750 2                  4  12 

Totals 59  100  61  100 

VII.   Federal  Statistics  of  Average  Wages 

The  last  bulletin  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of 
Labor  relating  to  wages  was  published  in  1908, 
and  gives  the  wages  for  1907.  In  one  sense  the 
figures  presented  from  time  to  time  in  the  Bul- 
letin are  thoroughly  representative,  as  they  are 
collected,  for  like  industries,  from  every  part  of 
the  United  States.  On  the  other  hand,  the  number 
of  establishments  furnishing  the  statistics  is  small, 
there  is  no  way  to  tell  whether  they  are  union  or 
non-union  establishments,  and  the  statistics  are 
furnished   by   the   employer.     Therefore,   if   any 

1  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  Massachusetts.     Boston,  1909.     Pp. 
2-11. 
-  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  1909.     Camden,  1910.     Pp. 

74-5. 

[138] 


THE    STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE    WAGES 

presumption  exists  as  to  the  faultincss  of  the 
statistics,  they  should  be  read  down,  rather  than 
up,  for  they  come  from  a  source  which  is  most 
interested  in  making  wages  appear  high. 

Specimen  material  from  this  Bulletin  has  al- 
ready been  given.  The  material  as  a  whole 
permits  of  practically  no  deductions,  save  that 
wages  are  considerably  higher  in  the  West  than 
in  any  other  section  of  the  country,  and  that  the 
wages  in  some  trades  are  very  much  higher  than 
in  others. 

"Laborers"  are  more  frequently  specified  than 
any  other  single  occupation.  The  following  table 
of  hours  and  wages  of  "laborers"  will  therefore 
give  a  relative  idea  of  the  range  of  one  group  of 
wages  from  section  to  section  and  from  industry 
to  industry. 

As  a  means  of  comparison  the  wage  statistics 
of  the  Bulletin  are  fairly  valuable,  but  as  a  state- 
ment from  which  any  knowledge  may  be  derived 
of  the  annual  earnings  of  any  group  of  men  or  of 
any  section  of  the  country,  the  figures  are  wholly 
worthless. 

The  only  other  average  wage  figures  recently 
printed  by  the  Federal  Government  are  those 
contained  in  the  Lodge  Report  on  Wages  and 
[139] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 


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[  140  ] 


THE    STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

Prices  of  Commodities.^  Unfortunately  these 
statistics  are  not  only  fragmentary  in  form  but 
most  incomplete  in  their  presentation.  Wages 
per  hour  without  hours  per  day;  average  wages 
with  no  statement  as  to  the  numbers  of  wage 
earners  coming  under  the  investigation;  wages 
collected  by  local  labor  bureaus  (New  Jersey  and 
Wisconsin);  and  wages  furnished  "by  correspon- 
dence" and  by  secretaries  of  employers'  associa- 
tions, constitute  the  statistical  material  for  the 
report.  Such  statistics  cannot  of  course  pretend 
to  be  scientific,  and  were  any  deductions  to  be 
made  from  them  they  would  not  be,  in  any  real 
sense,  worthy  of  credence.  The  only  point  which 
these  statistics  really  establish  is  the  variation  in 
wage  rates  from  one  section  of  the  country  to 
another.2 

The  average  v/ages  collected  and  published  by 
the  Federal  Government  in  recent  years  admit  of 
no  important  conclusions  which  are  not  most 
general  in  character,  and  already  rather  fully 
established. 

^  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  on  Wages  and  Prices  of  Commodi- 
ties.    Senate  Report  No.  912,  61st  Congress,  2nd  Session. 

^  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  these  statistics,  see  Chapter  VIII,  "The 
Variation  of  Wages  with  Geographic  Location."     Section  II. 

[Ul] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 


VIII.   Comparative  Average  Wages 

Owing  to  the  varying  methods  of  compilation, 
no  accurate  comparison  of  average  wages  can  be 
made.  Some  of  the  States  publish  average  earnings 
for  all  employees,  while  the  statistics  furnished  by 
others  are  for  employees  classified  by  sex.  As  nei- 
ther method  is  generally  used,  both  groups  of  statis- 
tics will  be  set  down  in  the  following  table,  which, 
though  inconclusive,  is  none  the  less  interesting. — ■ 

AVERAGE  WAGES  IN  VARIOUS  STATES  IN  TERMS  OF 
YEARLY  EARNINGS 
Average  in  All       Average  of  Average  of        Average  of 

Industries  and  for   Adult  Males     Adult  Females        Minors 
States  AU  Employees    All  Industries     All  Industries  All  Industries 

Michigan  1 $G03.90  $628.30  $347.70  $250.00 

Wisconsin^ 655.00  697.80  301.95 

New  Hampshire ' ....  656.24  397.28  241.24 

Rhode  Island* 494.00  646.00  390.00  182.00 

Massachusetts^ 610.71  

New  Jersey  S 600.14  

Pennsylvania' 650.00  299.00  190.00 

1  Annual  Report,  Dept.  of  Labor,  1910.  Lansing,  1910.  Pp. 
188-191. 

2  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Wisconsin,  1907-8.  Madison,  1909. 
P.  466. 

s  Biennial  Report,  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909-10.     Pp.  17-54. 

*  Annual  Report  Commissioner  of  Industrial  Statistics,  1908. 
Providence,  1909.     Pp.  516-17. 

^  Statistics  of  Manufacture,  1908.     Boston,  1909.     P.  2. 

^  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  1909.  Camden,  1910.  Pp. 
74-5. 

''  Annual  Report  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs,  Part  III,  Industrial 
Statistics,  1909.     Harrisburg,  1910.     P.  385. 
[142] 


THE   STATISTICS   OF   AVERAGE   WAGES 

Five  of  the  seven  States,  therefore,  pubHsh 
data  of  earnings  for  all  employees.  In  the  three 
of  these  five  States  having  similar  industries,  the 
averages  are  markedly  similar, — varying  only  by 
seventeen  dollars.  In  the  other  two  States,  with 
non-textile,  man-dominated  industries,  the  average 
is  considerably  higher.  The  variation  in  the  wages 
of  men  and  of  women  in  the  five  States  publishing 
such  figures,  is  considerable,  particularly  in  the 
wages  of  men  in  New  Hampshire;  while  the  wages 
of  women  are  particularly  high  in  New  Hampshire 
and  Rhode  Island.  Among  the  children  the  varia- 
tion is  less  than  that  among  men  and  women,  but 
greater  than  the  variation  among  all  employees. 

Such  are  the  comparable  statistics  of  average 
wages.  Although  incomplete  and,  in  a  measure, 
inaccurate,  they  show  that  the  classified  wage 
statistics  for  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey 
doubtless  have  a  counterpart  in  the  wages  of 
other  States  supporting  like  industries,  since  the 
average  wages  for  all  of  the  States  from  which 
reliable  averages  can  be  obtained,  are  very  sim- 
ilar to  the  averages  for  these  two  States. 


i[  14S  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

IX.   The  Statistics  of  Average  Wages 

Three  important  points  are  established  by  this 
study  of  average  wages, — first  the  amount  of 
average  wages,  second  the  variation  in  average 
wages  by  locahty  and  sex,  and  third  the  similarity 
between  the  average  wages  in  the  States  which  do 
publish,  and  in  the  States  which  do  not  publish 
statistics  of  classified  earnings.  Each  of  these 
points  is  sufficiently  important  to  warrant  a  brief 
summary  comment. 

Average  wages  in  all  industries  and  for  all 
employees,  range  from  $500  to  $600.  Where  only 
men  are  employed,  the  average  for  an  industry 
rises  considerably,  occasionally  reaching  $750  or 
even  $800.  The  employment  of  a  large  number  of 
women,  on  the  other  hand,  means  a  lowering  of 
the  average,  often  below  $400.  The  great  indus- 
tries, i.e.  those  which  employ  the  largest  numbers 
of  persons — such,  for  example,  as  Coal  Mining, 
Steel  Making,  Textile  Work,  and  the  like — pay 
almost  without  exception  average  wages  of  less 
than  $600  to  the  adult  males  employed.  The 
average  wage  of  the  adult  male  wage  worker  in 
the  leading  American  industries  is  seldom  less 
than  $450  and  seldom  more  than  $600  per  year. 
[  144  ] 


THE  STATISTICS    OF    AVERAGE  WAGES 

In  short,  the  range  is  from  an  average  daily  wage 
for  the  year  of  $1.50  to  $2. 

As  to  the  second  point,  the  variation  in  average 
wages,  it  appears  that  average  wages  are  rather 
constant  for  a  given  industry  from  State  to  State, 
and  from  city  to  city  within  a  State.  In  different 
words,  the  variation  in  wage  averages,  within  a 
given  industry,  is  no  greater  from  State  to  State, 
than  it  is  from  city  to  city  within  the  same  State. 
But  there  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  marked  varia- 
tion in  wages  from  industry  to  industry, — a 
variation,  as  a  study  of  the  wage  figures  clearly 
demonstrated,  which  occurs  inversely  with  the 
proportion  of  females  employed  in  the  indus- 
tries. 

Third,  the  statistics  cited  in  this  chapter  indi- 
cate that  average  wages  are  about  the  same  in 
New  Hampshire,  Michigan,  Rhode  Island,  Penn- 
sylvania, Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey.  If  this 
statement  be  accepted,  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  the 
deductions  based  on  the  classified  wage  statistics 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey  are  probably 
correct,  with  slight  modifications,  for  New  Hamp- 
shire, Michigan,  Rhode  Island  and  Pennsylvania. 
In  short,  this  study  of  average  wages  broadens 
the  statistical  basis  on  which  wage  inferences  for 
[145] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

the  entire  industrial  region  of  the  United  States 
may  be  made,  by  demonstrating  the  probable 
similarity  between  wages  in  six  leading  industrial 
States. 


[146] 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    VARIATION    OF    WAGES    WITH 
GEOGRAPHIC  LOCATION 

I.  The  Theory  of  Geographic  Variation 

The  assertion  that  wages  vary  widely  from 
section  to  section  of  the  United  States  is  com- 
monly accepted  and  is  frequently  made  an  axiom 
of  wage  theories.  In  pursuance  of  this  theory, 
wages  in  the  South  are  much  lower,  and  wages 
in  the  West  much  higher  than  wages  in  any  other 
part  of  the  United  States,  yet  a  careful  analysis 
of  wage  statistics  shows  that,  generally  speaking, 
neither  of  these  assumptions  is  wholly  correct, 
because  there  is  no  great  wage  variation  from 
one  section  of  the  United  States  to  another. 
Wages  are  not  markedly  lower  in  the  South 
than  in  the  North,  though  in  the  far  West  they 
appear  to  be  somewhat  higher  than  in  the  eastern 
parts  of  the  country. 

Most  of  the  evidence  adduced  in  the  discussion 
of  the  Federal  Telephone  Investigation,  showed 
[147] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

very  conclusively  tliat  the  variation  from  one  city 
to  another,  in  highly  specialized  occupations,  was 
comparatively  slight.  As  this  particular  bit  of 
evidence  has  already  been  analyzed  in  consider- 
able detail,  little  further  reference  to  it  will  be 
made  in  this  chapter,  which  includes  the  addi- 
tional material  bearing  on  the  subject  of  geo- 
graphic variation  of  wages. 

The  Telephone  Investigation  deals  with  wages 
in  varying  geographic  localities.  Another  phase 
of  the  same  wage  problem  appears  in  the  discus- 
sion over  relative  wages  in  city  and  town.  The 
belief  is  commonly  held  that  wages  are  higher 
in  urban  than  in  rural  districts.  If  that  be  true, 
then  there  is  a  distinct  compensation  for  the 
higher  city  prices  of  certain  commodities. 

The  statistics  on  which  this  investigation  is 
based  indicate  that  the  wage  variation  from  city 
to  town  within  the  same  geographic  area  is  com- 
paratively slight.  In  fact,  the  variation  in  wage 
for  similar  occupations  from  industry  to  industry, 
is  probably  greater  than  the  variation  with  geo- 
graphic location. 

The  statistics  of  classified  earnings,  published 
by  some  of  the  States,  do  not  permit  of  any  de- 
ductions relative  to  the  geographic  variation  of 
[148] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

wages.  Average  wages  alone,  either  for  an  in- 
dustry, or  for  a  given  employment,  afford  oppor- 
tunity for  satisfactory  comparisons.  The  objec- 
tions already  noted,  to  the  dependability  of 
average  wages,  do  not  apply  with  equal  force  to 
a  comparison  of  averages,  if  the  averages  are 
similarly  computed  in  each  case.  The  comparison 
in  the  latter  case  may  be  very  approximately 
correct,  since  it  is  drawn,  not  between  a  fact  and 
a  mathematical  concept,  but  between  two  math- 
ematical concepts. 

II.    Wages  from  One  Geographic  Area 
TO  Another 

In  addition  to  the  material  secured  in  the 
Federal  Telephone  Investigation,  there  are  three 
sources  for  a  discussion  of  wages  from  one  geo- 
graphic area  to  another — the  railroad  wage  statis- 
tics compiled  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, the  report  of  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Wages  and  Prices,  and  Bulletin  Number  77  of  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor.  In  the  discussion 
of  average  wages,  the  relative  value  of  the  two 
last  sources  was  discussed.  Though  by  no  means 
conclusive,  these  figures  are,  nevertheless,  of  con- 
siderable value. 

[149] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  statis- 
tics, carefully  collected  and  compiled,  give  average 
wages  within  a  very  narrow  group  of  employment, 
such,  for  example,  as  "locomotive  engineers,"  or 
"conductors."  These  occupations  are  everywhere 
similar,  and  hence  even  average  wages  in  them  are 
very  comparable. 

The  figures  for  the  railroads  of  the  United  States 
appear  on  the  opposite  page. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has 
divided  the  railroads  of  the  United  States  into 
ten  groups,  which  are  designated  by  the  figures 
at  the  left  of  the  table.  To  the  right  of  each  fig- 
ure are  the  abbreviated  names  of  the  States  com- 
prised within  the  group.  The  three  lower  lines 
of  statistics,  secured  from  State  labor  reports, 
were  included  in  the  table  in  order  to  bring  to- 
gether all  of  the  available  evidence.  The  North 
Carolina  figures  relate  to  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad;  and  the  Washington  figures  refer  to 
the  Northern  Pacific;  while  the  statistics  from 
Virginia  include  all  railroads.  The  trades  of 
"Machinist"  and  "Carpenter"  are  not  pecuhar 
to  railroading,  yet  they  are  included  because  they 
are  universal  employments.  The  "Operators  and 
Dispatchers"  are  telegraph  operators,  train  dis- 
[150] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 


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WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

patchers  and  the  like, — trades  similar  in  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  All  of  the  trades  included  in 
the  table  are  rather  limited  in  extent,  and  suffi- 
ciently definite  to  be  similar  in  all  sections. 

A  study  of  this  table  shows  the  slight  wage 
variation  from  one  section  of  the  country  to 
another.  Thus  the  wages  of  "Enginemen"  and 
"Conductors"  are  remarkably  uniform,  with  the 
one  exception  of  New  England,  where  the  lowest 
wages  are  paid  to  these  two  groups  as  well  as  to 
"Machinists."  This  table  apparently  contains  a 
direct  refutation  of  the  theory  that  wages  are 
higher  in  the  North  than  in  the  South,  as  it  clearly 
shows  the  lowest  wage  in  three  occupations  to  be 
in  New  England.  The  wages  of  "Carpenters,"  a 
rather  inclusive  trade,  are  surprisingly  similar 
with  a  variation  from  $2.15  in  the  South  Atlantic 
States  to  $2.92  in  the  far-western  States;  so,  too, 
the  wages  of  "Operators  and  Dispatchers"  are 
fairly  uniform;  while  the  variation  is  greatest 
among  "Trackmen" — common  laborers. 

The  table  could  really  be  divided  into  two 
sections,  the  first  including  groups  1  to  6  of  the 
Commerce  Commission,  with  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia;  and  the  second  comprising  groups  7  to 
10  of  the  Commission,  with  Washington  in  addi- 
[152] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

tion.  As  between  the  North  and  the  South,  there 
is  really  little  variation,  but  all  of  the  Western 
States  show  wages  considerably  higher  than  those 
of  the  Eastern  Section  of  the  countr3^  The  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  Statistics  show 
clearly  that  in  a  unionized  trade,  wages  are  very 
similar  as  between  geographic  areas  of  the  United 
States.  The  least  variation  appears  among  the 
most  highly  skilled  workers,  while  the  variation 
is  greatest  among  the  unorganized,  unskilled 
trackmen  and  other  laborers. 

The  two  remaining  groups  of  statistics  included 
under  this  section  are  comparatively  similar. 
The  material  from  Bulletin  77  (the  latest  Bulletin 
containing  wage  data)  includes  Manufacturing 
and  Structural  Work,  giving  the  number  em- 
ployed, hours  per  day  and  wages  per  hour  for 
1907-8.  The  material  from  the  Report  of  the 
Senate  Committee  gives  merely  wages  per  hour 
for  1910.  The  two  groups  of  material  are  not,  of 
course,  comparable,  but  they  are,  in  so  far  as  the 
Building  trades  are  concerned,  remarkably  sim- 
ilar. In  the  material  furnished  by  the  Bulletin, 
two  facts,  already  emphasized,  are  apparent. 
There  is  little  or  no  variation  in  the  wages  paid 
to  a  certain  occupation  in  the  four  Eastern  groups 
[153] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


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[154] 


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VARIATION  OF  WAGES 


GEOGRAPHICAL   DISTRIBUTION   OF    BUILDING    TRADE    WAGES    IN 
CITIES   (1910-11),   EXPRESSED  IN  CENTS  PER  HOUR  ^ 


Brick- 

North  Atlantic  layers 

Baltimore,  Md 62  H 

Boston,  Mass 60 

Buffalo,  N.  Y 60 

Newark,  N.  J 65 

New  York,  N.  Y.  . . .  70 

Philadelphia,  Pa 62)^ 

Pittsburg,  Pa 65 

Providence,  R.I 60 


Structural 

Iron 

Carpen- 

Cemen 

Setters 

Plumbers 

ters 

Painters 

Finishe: 

43  5i 

43  ?i 

43  Ji 

373^ 

50 

SO 

55 

60 

45 

50 

65 

50 

45 

45 

45 

s&K 

SGK 

60 

44 

40 

623-^ 

62  H 

62^ 

60 

62H 

50 

13% 

45 

40 

45 

60 

56H 

50 

42  H 

50 

35 

50 

41 

STA 

50 

South  Atlantic 

Washington,  D.  C. . .  6i}4 

North  Central 

Chicago,  111 67H 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 62 J^ 

Cleveland,  Ohio 65 

Detroit,  Mich 65 

Indianapolis,  Ind.  ...  65 

Kansas  City,  Mo 75 

Milwaukee,  Wis 65 

Minneapolis,  Minn. . .  65 

Omaha,  Neb 70 

St.  Louis,  Mo 70 

St.  Paul,  Minn 65 

South  Central 

Louisville,  Ky 60 

Western 

Denver,  Colo 75 

Portland,  Ore 75 

San  Francisco,  Cal..  .  87 J/^ 

Seattle,  Wash 75 


50 


60 


433^ 


43  Ji 


40 


50 


05 

68K 

60 

60 

57^ 

60 

50 

60 

42  H 

40 

60 

66  Ji 

42H 

42  H 

60 

40 

60 

45 

45 

44 

60 

60 

42^ 

40 

36 

56  M 

62  H 

60 

50 

50 

BQK 

56  J4 

40 

42^ 

50 

50 

45 

45 

35 

66^ 

62  H 

SO 

47H 

62H 

65 

66M 

60 

55 

55 

50 

56J^ 

45 

45 

45 

40 


66 1^ 

623^ 

60 

50 

68»i 

563^ 

683^ 

60 

SO 

6234 

623^ 

76 

623^ 

B6}i 

75 

62^ 

81M 

62H 

563^ 

75 

'  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  on  Wages  and  Prices  of  Com- 
modities, Senate  Report  No.  912,  61st  Congress,  2nd  Session,  Part  I. 
Pp.  60-67. 

[155] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

of  States,  while  with  Western  groups,  the  wages 
per  hour  are  considerably  higher.  As,  however, 
the  number  of  hours  worked  per  day  is  less  in  this 
Western  group  than  in  the  Eastern  States,  the 
disproportion  between  the  figures  is  not  so  great 
as  it  at  first  appears. 

The  statistics  of  the  Select  Committee,  also 
collected  from  employers,  show  almost  identical 
conditions,  except  that  the  variation  between 
the  East  and  West  is  not  so  marked  as  in  the 
figures  furnished  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor.  In 
fact,  the  variation  in  wages  from  city  to  city  in  the 
same  geographic  area,  is  in  most  cases  as  great  as 
the  variation  from  one  geographic  area  to  another. 

The  foregoing  figures  substantiate  the  conclu- 
sion already  reached  in  the  discussion  of  the 
Telephone  Investigation,  demonstrating  beyond 
question  that  there  is  no  considerable  wage 
variation  per  hour  or  per  day  between  the  differ- 
ent sections  of  the  United  States.  This  state- 
ment should,  perhaps,  be  modified  by  excepting 
a  slightly  higher  wage  in  most  trades  in  the 
Western  States.  The  fact  remains,  however, 
that  the  available  data  does  not  show  any  marked 
variation  in  wages  from  one  part  of  the  United 
States  to  another. 

[156] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

III,   Wages  from  City  to  City 

The  material  compiled  by  the  Select  Senate 
Committee,  cited  in  the  previous  section,  indi- 
cates a  decided  wage  variation  from  city  to  city 
within  the  same  geographic  area.  The  additional 
data  which  is  procurable  fully  confirms  the  data 
of  the  Select  Committee  in  this  respect.  It  will 
be  remembered  for  example  that  the  Federal 
Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies  showed  a 
marked  variation  in  wages  from  one  city  to 
another. 

Only  two  additional  groups  of  evidence  need 
be  adduced, — one  from  the  Massachusetts  Wage 
Report  for  1908,  and  one  from  the  Ohio  Wage 
Report  for  1908.  Both  groups  of  statistics  give 
average  annual  earnings,  and  the  Ohio  statistics 
give  in  addition,  average  daily  earnings. 

The  Massachusetts  figures  are  shown  on  next 
page. 

Some  of  the  figures  are  incomplete  because  of 
an  intense  localization,  under  which  one  town 
makes  one  product.  Attleboro,  for  example, 
manufactures  jewelry;  Fall  River,  cotton  goods; 
Brockton,  boots  and  shoes;  Lowell,  cotton  goods, 
and  so  on.  In  the  towns,  other  than  those  special- 
[157] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


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[158] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

izing  in  some  particular  industry,  there  is  no  estab- 
lishment engaged  in  that  industry.  Thus  in  so 
large  a  centre  as  Boston,  there  arc  no  "Boots  and 
Shoes"  and  no  "Cotton  Goods"  manufactured. 
Hence,  after  a  considerable  search,  it  was  found 
there  were  only  three  representative  industries 
which  existed  in  a  sufficiently  large  number  of 
towns  to  permit  of  a  comparison, — Boots  and 
Shoes,  Cotton  Goods,  and  Foundry  and  Machine 
Shop  Products.  Even  these  industries  exist  only 
here  and  there,  while  with  the  exception  of  Boots 
and  Shoes  and  Foundries  and  Machine  Shops  no 
single  industry  was  reported  from  a  considerable 
number  of  cities  and  towns.  Nevertheless  for 
Boots  and  Shoes  and  for  Foundry  and  Machine 
Shops  the  figures  are  fairly  complete. 

There  is,  it  will  be  observed,  little  wage  varia- 
tion from  town  to  town  in  the  Boot  and  Shoe  in- 
dustry, and  only  a  slight  variation  in  the  Foundry 
and  Machine  Shop  industry.  There  is  no  variation 
with  city  size,  some  of  the  smallest  towns  paying 
higher  average  wages  than  the  larger  cities.  Thus 
the  available  Massachusetts  data  indicates  that 
while  wages  do  vary  from  city  to  city,  there  is  no 
apparent  regularity  in  the  variations. 

Turning  now  to  the  statistics  from  Ohio,  a  much 
[159] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 


more  complete  statement  is  possible.  The  Ohio 
statistics  of  daily  and  yearly  average  wages  are 
published  by  cities  and  industries,  three  of  which 

AVERAGE    WAGES    IN    LARGE    AND    SMALL    CITIES    IN    CERTAIN 
TRADES  AND  OCCUPATIONS— OHIO,    1807^ 

FODNDBT    AND   MACHINE   ShOPS 


City 

Population 
(1900) 

No. 

Laborers 
Average 
Yearly 
and  Daily 

Earnings 

No. 

Moulders 

Average 

Yearly 

and  Daily 

Earnings 

Machinists 

Average 

Yearly 

and  Daily 

No.      Earnings 

Lima 

. .    sijas 

9 

$563.04 
1.84 

9 

$838.44 

2.74 

Zanesville 

. .      23.538 

133 

473.04 
1.62 

80 

$955.65 
3.45 

25 

908.82 
2.97 

Hamilton 

. .      23,914 

123 

493.48 
1.69 

295 

800.53 
2.77 

5 

632.25 
2.25 

Canton 

. .      30,667 

217 

478.27 
1.69 

204 

761.27 
2.69 

31 

766.00 
2.65 

Springfield 

. .      38,253 

271 

451.77 
1.63 

309 

851.20 
3.04 

105 

703.95 
2.47 

Akron 

. .      42,728 

6 

470.00 
2.00 

35 

857.48 
3.03 

49 

885.79 

2.83 

Youngstown .  .  . 

. .      44,885 

96 

639.12 
1.84 

97 

985.30 
3.34 

30 

900.00 
S.OO 

Villages  (other) 

704 

460.80 
1.60 

729 

736.56 
2.64 

219 

686.40 
2.40 

Dayton 

. .      85,333 

1,735 

464.88 
1.56 

707 

775.52 
2.62 

876 

615.00 
1.92 

Columbus 

. .    125,560 

1,134 

554.49 
1.83 

278 

821.73 
2.73 

188 

823.54 
2.71 

Toledo 

..    131,822 

1,101 

602.86 
1.74 

462 

758.28 
2.67 

189 

797.34 

2.74 

Cincinnati 

. .    325,902 

477 

490.20 
1.72 

543 

886.35 
3.11 

95 

811.04 

2.74 

Cleveland 

..    381,768 

6,648 

482.63 
1.67 

2,433 

814.90 
2.81 

1,248 

797.94 
2.79 

Cities  (other) .  . 



941 

462.40 
1.60 

659 

764.46 
2.79 

319 

736.60 
2.54 

*  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics— Ohio,  1908,  Pp.  114-491. 
[160] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 


AVERAGE    WAGES.  ETC.— OHIO,   1907   (Continued) 


City  Population 

(1900) 
Lima 21,723 

Zancsville 23,538  • 

Hamilton 23,914 

Canton 30,667 

Springfield 38,253 

Akron 42,728 

Youngstown 44,885 

Villages  (other)  . .  .... 

Dayton 85,333 

Columbus 125,560 

Toledo 131,822 

Cincinnati 325,902 

Cleveland 381,768 

Cities  (other) ....         . 

were  selected  for  the  first  comparison.  These 
three  industries  w^ere  chosen  because  they  were 
found,  extensively,  in  the  greatest  number  of 
cities.  The  cities,  arranged  according  to  popula- 
tion, fall  naturally  into  two  groups, — those  with 
[161] 


Sash, 

,  Doors, 

Etc. 

Machine  Hands 

Bench  Hands 

Carpenters 

Average 

Average 

Average 

Yearly 

Yearly 

Yearly 

1 

and  Daily 

and  Daily 

and  Daily 

No. 

Earnings 

No. 

Earnings 

No. 

Earnings 

6 

$525.00 

1 

$750.00 

6 

$675.00 

2.50 

2.50 

2.25 

10 

787.80 
2.00 

8 

707.50 
2.50 

8 

723.18 

3 

646.14 

84 

836.59 

2.47 

2.42 

2.69 

7 

711.89 
2.57 

9 

736.02 
2.61 

14 

545.40 
1.80 

11 

757.50 
2.50 

12 

690.75 

6 

675.00 

19 

675.00 

2.25 

2.25 

2.71 

7 

767.14 
2.57 

103 

978.25 
3.26 

198 

608.48 

81 

558.60 

221 

693.10 

2.09 

2.30 

2.39 

99 

738.84 

113 

788.62 

216 

905.92 

2.02 

2.62 

2.98 

60 

779.59 

22 

820.45 

7 

727.50 

2.59 

2.69 

2.50 

147 

697.72 

17 

578.26 

68 

682.42 

2.04 

1.98 

2.29 

199 

747.12 

75 

688.94 

122 

988.38 

2.64 

2.59 

3.23 

163 

758.52 

58 

784.40 

177 

1,002.64 

2.58 

2.65 

3.32 

257 

656.98 

229 

663.75 

380 

719.36 

2.14 

2.25 

2.56 

WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

more  than  50,000  inhabitants  and  those  with  less 
than  50,000  inhabitants.  Those  above  50,000  are 
designated  in  the  report  as  "cities,"  while  those 
below  are  designated  as  "villages."  All  of  the 
occupations  under  consideration  are  occupations 
of  males.    Hence  they  are  fairly  comparable. 

The  variations  in  annual  earnings  are,  in  all 
occupations,  considerable,  yet  inconsistent.  Day- 
ton, with  a  population  of  less  than  a  hundred 
thousand,  is,  in  some  industries,  lower,  but  in 
others  higher,  than  Cleveland,  with  a  population 
more  than  four  times  as  great.  In  the  villages  the 
same  discrepancy  appears.  No  village  is  uniformly 
high,  and  none  is  uniformly  low.  Whether  the 
cause  of  variation  be  a  difference  in  the  standard 
of  the  various  plants  under  consideration,  or  dif- 
ferences in  nationality,  custom,  standards  of  liv- 
ing, and  the  like  cannot  be  decided  in  a  study  of 
wage  statistics. 

There  is  but  one  obvious  conclusion  which  can 
be  drawn  from  the  figures  cited  in  this  section, — 
that  within  the  same  State,  in  the  same  occupa- 
tions and  industries,  wages  vary  from  city  to  city 
and  from  town  to  town.  This  variation  is  most 
irregular,  so  far  as  the  statistics  indicate,  being 
governed  neither  by  location  nor  by  city  size. 
[162] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

IV.   Wages  from  Large  to  Small  Cities 

A  further  study  of  the  Ohio  statistics  just  re- 
ferred to  indicates  clearly  that  wages  do  not,  as  is 
often  assumed,  vary  with  city  size.  It  is  com- 
monly supposed  that  wages  increase  with  the 
size  of  the  city,  so  that  wages  in  a  great  city 
would  always  be  higher  in  a  given  occupation 
than  wages  in  the  small  neighboring  towns.  There 
is,  without  question,  some  tendency  in  this  direc- 
tion. New  York  City,  for  instance,  the  largest 
of  the  cities,  showed  the  highest  average  wages 
of  telephone  operators.  A  like  variation  in  wages 
appeared  in  the  reports  of  the  telephone  com- 
panies for  towns  classified  by  population  size. 
The  rule  is,  nevertheless,  of  limited  applica- 
tion— as  is  clearly  shown  by  the  following  evi- 
dence. 

A  comparison  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Ohio 
statistics  printed  in  the  previous  section,  showed 
pretty  conclusively  that  there  was  no  great  varia- 
tion between  the  wages  in  cities  varying  from  less 
than  a  hundred  thousand  to  considerably  over 
three  hundred  thousand  in  population.  A  fur- 
ther analysis  of  these  Ohio  statistics  shows  that 
in  the  villages,  ranging  in  size  from  twenty  to 
[163] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


forty-five  thousand,  the  earnings  are  frequently 
higher  than  the  earnings  In  the  larger  cities. 

Some  light  may  be  thrown  on  the  problem  by 
a  statement  for  "Laborers"  of  wages  by  the  day 
and  by  the  year,  In  seven  Ohio  Industries.  Labor- 
ers are  usually  unskilled  workers,  useful  only 
because  of  brute  strength  or  of  the  human  capacity 
to  "tend"  a  machine,  and  see  that  It  does  not  go 
wrong.  The  term  "Laborers"  Is  probably  more  re- 
stricted as  regards  earning  capacity  than  the  terms 

Machinists  "  or  "  B  oiler  Makers . ' '  Furthermore, 
it  was  practically  the  only  employment  which  ap- 
peared in  numerous  industries  in  the'various  towns. 

DAILY  WAGES  OF  "LABORERS"— OHIO— 19071 


Brick  and 

Boilers  and 

Machinery 

Foundry  and 

Tile 

Tanks 

Manufacturing 

Machine  Shop 

Daily 

Daily 

Daily 

Daily 

Cities 

No. 

Wage 

No. 

Wage 

No. 

Wage 

No. 

Wage 

Uma 

10 

$1.75 

163 

$1.60 

Zanesville 

26 

1.55 

133 

$1.62 

Hamilton , 

44 

1.96 
1.56 

107 
95 

1.64 
1.63 

194 
94 

$1.72 
1.64 

123 

217 

1.69 

Canton 

...       65 

1.69 

Springfield 

11 

1.80 

52 

1.74 

271 

1.63 

Akron , 

. . .     168 

1.62 

9 

1.60 

107 

1.66 

6 

2.00 

Youngstown 

104 

1.57 

96 

1.84 

Villages  (other)  — 

. . .     233 

1.43 

893 

1.66 

167 

1.64 

104 

1.60 

Dayton 

...       86 

1.88 

108 

1.72 

693 

1.64 

1,735 

1.56 

Columbus 

. ..       72 

1.73 

17 

1.65 

206 

1.64 

1,134 

1.83 

Toledo 

...     104 

1.91 

19 

1.89 

73 

1.69 

1,101 

1.74 

Cincinnati 

59 

1.86 

61 

1.85 

462 

1.71 

477 

1.72 

Cleveland 

...       71 

1.62 

199 

1.85 

734 

1.60 

6,648 

1.67 

Cities  (other) 

. . .  1,057 

1.62 

720 

ilbid 

1.60 

1,113 

1.65 

941 

1.60 

[164] 

VARIATION   OF   WAGES 

From  this  table  it  will  be  observed  that  the  wages 
per  day  range  very  slightly  higher  in  the  cities 
than  in  the  villages.  A  study  of  the  tables  from 
which  these  statistics  were  derived  shows,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  earnings  per  year  are,  if 
anything,  higher  in  the  villages  than  in  the  cities. 
It  would  be  obvious  from  such  a  statement  that 
the  unemployment  had  been  more  of  a  factor  in 
the  city  than  in  the  village,  hence  the  discrepancy 
in  wages,  \^^lether  this  is  true  of  unemployment 
for  the  year  1907  only,  or  whether  it  is  always 
true,  is  a  question  to  which  no  answer  can  be 
given.  It  is  obviously  present  during  the  year 
under  consideration. 

In  many  of  the  trades  thus  far  considered,  labor 
unions  are  weak  or  non-existent.  "  Laborers,"  for 
example,  are  not,  as  a  rule,  organized.  Hence 
labor  unions  would  have  little  influence  on  wages. 
If,  in  contrast  to  these  unorganized,  or  partially 
organized  trades,  a  strongly  organized  trade  be 
considered,  the  uniformity  in  wages  is  almost 
absolute.  The  statistics  for  one  strongly  organ- 
ized trade  appear  in  the  Kansas  Labor  Report  for 
1909.  Considerable  space  is  there  devoted  to  an 
analysis  of  wages  as  reported  by  contractors  and 
unions  in  the  Building  Trades.  As  the  contrac- 
[165] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tors'  reports  were  rather  complete,  while  those  of 
the  unions  were  fragmentary,  the  compilation 
will  be  made  from  the  contractors'  statements. 

WAGES    IN    CITIES    AND    TOWNS— AVERAGE    WAGES    PER    DAY    AS 
REPORTED   BY   CONTRACTORS— KANSAS,  1908  ^ 

Cities  and  Towns  Brick  Masons   Carpenters       Plumbers     Laborers 

Over  60,000  population 

Kansas  City $5.60  $3.78  $4.96  $2.04 

SB,000-50,000  population 

Topeka 6.00  S.OO  4.00  1.84 

10,000-25,000  population 

Atchison 5.00  2.76  3.28  2.00 

Fort  Scott 5.00  2.97  2.48  1.36 

Galena 6.80  2.92  1.85 

Lawrence 6.60  2.88  3.68  2.16 

Leavenworth 6.60  3.43  6.00  1.92 

Pittsburg 5.20  3.00  3.28  2.40 

Wichita 6.00  3.60  4.32  2.32 

5,000-10,000  population 

Arkansas  City 6.20  3.24  4.60  2.00 

Emporia 6.00  3.00  

Hutchinson 6.60  2.92  4.00  1.62 

Newton 6.12  2.70  3.78  2.00 

Ottawa 6.30  3.30  3.60  1.80 

Parsons 6.20  2.88  3.84  1.76 

Winfield 6.00  3.04  3.61  1.89 

In  two  instances,  among  Carpenters  and  Plumb- 
ers, the  wages  in  Kansas  City  are  slightly  higher 
than  the  wages  in  the  majority  of  the  smaller 
cities.     In  the  other  two  occupations,  on  the  other 

1  Annual  Report,  Kansas  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909.    Topeka,  1910. 
Pp.  29-53. 

[166] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

hand  (Brick  Masons  and  Laborers)  y  the  wages 
are  highest  in  the  cities  of  10,000  to  25,000,  and 
almost  as  high  in  the  smaller  towns.  There  can 
be  no  deductions  from  these  figures,  therefore, 
except  that,  in  a  strongly  organized  trade,  wages 
do  not  vary  with  population  from  centre  to  centre 
within  the  same  State. 

The  material  in  this  section  justifies  the  con- 
clusion that  while  a  slight  variation  may  occur 
from  city  to  city,  it  is  not  reducible  to  any  formu- 
lated rule,  but  appears  to  depend  upon  the  indi- 
vidual establishments  rather  than  upon  the  size 
or  location  of  the  cities  or  towns. 

V.   Geographic  Variation  in  Wages 

In  spite  of  the  general  contrary  opinion  there 
is  no  considerable  variation  in  wages  accompany- 
ing changes  in  geographic  location.  This  state- 
ment holds  particularly  in  organized  trades  such 
as  the  building  trades,  and  the  railway  brother- 
hoods. In  unorganized  trades,  represented  by 
"Laborers,"  the  variation  is  somewhat  greater. 

Speaking  generally,  the  South  Central  States 

show  a  slightly  lower  range  of  wages,  while  the 

Western  States  show  a  slightly  higher  range  of 

wages  than  the  other  three  groups  of  States.    The 

[167] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

variation  is  not,  however,  very  considerable  in 
any  case.  Even  a  contrast  between  the  lowest 
(South  Central)  and  the  highest  (Western)  group 
of  States  shows,  for  similar  organized  occupations, 
no  considerable  wage  variation. 

Whatever  the  variation  fron  one  geographic 
area  to  another,  it  is  little  if  any  more  extensive 
than  the  variation  from  city  to  city  within  the 
same  geographic  area.  With  the  exception  of  the 
cities  in  the  Western  group  of  States,  where  there 
is  almost  no  variation  in  wages  for  similar  occupa- 
tions, the  wages  vary  somewhat  from  one  city  to 
another  within  a  given  geographic  area,  and  even 
within  a  given  State.  The  conclusion  may  fairly 
be  reached,  therefore,  that  geographic  variations 
in  wages  within  a  given  industry  are  greater  in 
organized  than  in  unorganized  trades,  but  in  no  case 
are  they  very  extensive  in  the  leading  industries. 

It  is  probable  that  there  is  some  variation  with 
city  size,  though  this  point  is  by  no  means  estab- 
lished. In  the  Telephone  industry  wages  varied 
directly  with  population  size,  but  the  data  from 
State  reports  showed  no  such  regular  variation. 
That  there  is  a  variation  in  wages  from  rural  to 
urban  centres  of  population  is  undoubtedly  true, 
but  this  variation  is  probably  due  to  the  varying 
[168] 


VARIATION  OF  WAGES 

character  of  rural  and  urban  industry,  as  it  docs 
not  appear  within  all  of  the  industries  studied. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  slight  variation  with  geo- 
graphic location,  rather  irregular  and  incapable 
of  reduction  to  formulas.  It  is  neither  definite  in 
operation  nor  certain  in  extent,  and  the  import- 
ance of  the  phenomena  has  certainly  been  exag- 
gerated. 


[169] 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES  WITHIN 
INDUSTRY 

I.   Specialized  Employments  and  the 
Distribution  of  Wages 

The  hand  trades  have  practically  disappeared 
from  modern  industry,  so  that  craftsmanship,  in 
its  original  meaning,  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  A 
man  no  longer  makes  a  shoe,  a  nail,  or  an  over- 
coat; rather  he  co-operates  with  a  hundred  or  a 
thousand  other  persons,  each  of  whom,  like  him- 
self, has  some  small  and  apparently  meaningless 
operation  to  perform.  These  specialized  occupa- 
tions, however,  are  anything  but  meaningless,  for 
organized  and  directed  by  a  captain  of  industry, 
they  create  a  completed  product. 

This  intense  specialization,  which  has  been 
developed  in  recent  years,  has  divided  labor  hori- 
zontally into  groups, — consisting,  broadly,  of  un- 
sldlled,  semi-sldlled  and  skilled  laborers.  This 
division  is  comparatively  recent  because  under  a 
[170] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

craftsmanship  system,  each  man,  learning  his 
trade  as  an  apprentice,  became  ultimately  a 
skilled  or  master  craftsman.  From  apprentice,  to 
journeyman,  to  master  craftsman  was  a  series  of 
steps  which  most  of  the  industrial  workers 
climbed,  and  even  those  who  never  became  mas- 
ters were  nevertheless  skilled,  thoroughly  trained 
mechanics.  In  contrast  with  this  old  system, 
under  which  a  man  received  a  rounded  education 
in  his  business,  the  system  of  specialization  which 
has  replaced  the  handicraft  system,  permits  of 
little  apprenticeship,  since  each  man,  with  or 
without  the  aid  of  a  machine,  creates  a  small  part 
of  a  given  unit  of  product.  He  learns  to  perform 
one  operation,  instead  of  making  a  completed 
whole.  In  the  course  of  doing  this  special  thing, 
he  becomes  not  skilled,  but  dexterous,  so  that 
through  specialization  and  organization  his  total 
product  has  been  made  larger,  but  his  training  is 
along  the  narrowest  lines. 

There  is  no  method  of  deciding  finally  which 
trades  are  skilled  and  which  are  semi-skilled,  as 
no  absolute  line  can  be  drawn  on  one  side  of  which 
all  skilled  and  on  the  other  side  of  which  all 
semi-skilled  men  may  be  placed.  A  locomotive 
engineer  receives  $3.50  per  day,  while  the  brakeman 
[171] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

on  the  train  is  paid  $2.25.  The  engineer  is  classed 
as  a  skilled  man  and  the  brakeman  as  a  semi- 
skilled man.  The  fireman,  with  $3  a  day,  comes 
in  between  the  two, — as  a  borderline  case. 

That  industry  has  been  thus  stratified  is  easily 
proved,  but  the  extent  of  the  stratification  and 
the  proportionate  distribution  of  employees  over 
the  various  wage  groups  is  difiicult  of  demon- 
stration. The  stratification  is,  of  necessity,  gen- 
erally admitted.  It  is  concerning  the  extent  that 
controversy  is  rife.  This  chapter  is  written  to 
answer  as  completely  as  may  be,  the  question  as 
to  the  proportion  of  wage  earners  who  occupy 
positions  in  the  different  wage  strata.  How  many 
men  in  the  industries  of  the  United  States  receive 
common  labor  wages?  What  proportion  of  the 
male  wage  earners  are  paid  less  than  $1,000  a 
year.''  How  many  high-paid  and  how  many  low- 
paid  men  are  there  in  a  given  city  or  State.''  Is 
it  true  that  modern  industry  is  so  organized  that 
the  man  who  wishes  to  do  so  may  "rise"  to  the 
higher  industrial  positions?  Is  there  "plenty  of 
room  at  the  top"?  No  definite  answers  have  as 
yet  been  made  to  these  questions,  yet  if  it  can  be 
demonstrated,  that  three  of  the  great  representa- 
tive industries  of  the  country  pay  wages  of  more 
[172] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

than  $1,000  to  10  per  cent,  of  their  male  wage 
earners,  while  less  than  10  per  cent,  of  the  adult 
males  in  the  three  States  which  furnish  reliable, 
up-to-date  statistics  likewise  receive  more  than 
$1,000  annually,  the  conclusion  may  well  be  drawn 
that  in  the  industries  of  the  United  States  at  large 
not  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  the  adult  male  wage 
earners  receive  annual  earnings  of  more  than 
$1,000.  While  such  a  conclusion  would  not  be 
absolutely  accurate,  it  would  be  as  accurate  as 
any  conclusion  which  could  be  reached  without 
securing  data  from  every  industry  and  every 
locality  in  the  United  States.  Several  groups  of 
wage  statistics  will  therefore  be  discussed  in  an 
attempt  to  establish  the  actual  distribution  of 
wage  workers  over  the  various  wage  groups. 

Females  are  very  briefly  discussed  in  this  chap- 
ter, for  three  reasons, — 

1.  They  do  not  as  a  rule  become  skilled  at  all, 
hence  they  earn,  as  has  already  been  shown,  in 
the  vast  majority  of  cases,  less  than  $9  a  week. 
That  is,  instead  of  being  distributed  over  the  wage 
scale,  they  are  massed  at  the  bottom. 

2.  As  yet,  women  enter  industry  only  tempora- 
rily. The  census  shows  that  the  great  majority  of 
them  who  are  at  work  are  between  16  and  30 

[173] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

years  of  age, — that  is,  they  are  in  industry  until 
they  get  married.  As  they  do  not  intend  to  make 
a  hfe  work  of  their  pursuit,  they  do  not  rise  in  it. 
3.  The  available  statistics,  in  the  cases  of  rail- 
roads and  the  South  Bethlehem  Steel  Co.,  relate 
to  males  only.  As  this  best  data  is  of  males,  com- 
parisons with  it  and  conclusions  from  the  entire 
data,  can  be  for  males  only.  Hence  the  major 
portion  of  the  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  state- 
ments of  the  wages  of  males. 

II.  Railroad  Wages 

The  largest  single  group  of  statistics  from 
which  deductions  on  wage  distribution  may  be 
made  are  published  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  These  statistics,  it  is  true,  are 
averages  compiled  from  reports  furnished  to  the 
Commission  by  the  interstate  railroads,  yet  the 
field  covered  is  so  extensive,  and  the  data  sub- 
mitted is  so  similar,  that  the  results  may  fairly 
be  employed  in  a  study  like  the  present  one. 

The  work  of  the  Commission  is  very  thorough. 
The  material  submitted  to  it  is  carefully  scrutin- 
ized and  compiled,  so  that  the  data  included  in 
the  "Statistics  of  Railways"  is  accurate  and 
reliable  as  any  that  exists,  while  the  method  of 
[174] 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  WAGES 

presenting  the  statistics  is,  for  average  wages, 
most  admirable.  The  data  is  discussed  by  the 
Commission,  first  for  the  United  States  as  a 
whole  and  then  for  ten  groups  of  States,  arranged 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES   IN   THE   VARIOUS   EMPLOYMENTS. 
RAILROADS  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES— 1909 1 

Average  Daily  Average  Daily 

Wages  Number          Wages         Per  cent. 

Over  $10     General  Officers 5,-192         $12 .  67                   • 

$5  to    10     Other  Officers 8,022            6.40                  '• 

4  to      6     Enginemen 57,077             4 .  44                  4 

3  to      4     Conductors 43,608             3.81                   S 

2  to      S    Machinists 48,237  2 .  98 

Firemen 60,349  2 .  67 

Other  Trainmen 114,760  2.59 

Carpenters 60,867  2.43 

Employees — Account  floating  equip- 
ment   8,758  2.31 

General  Office  Clerks 69,959  2 .  31 

Telegraph  Operators  and  Dispatchers  39,115  2.30 

Other  Shopmen 195,110  2.13 

Station  Agents 36,519  2.08 


633,674 

$1  to  $2     All  other  Employees  and  Laborers . .  210,898  1.98 

Section  Foremen 41,859  1.96 

Other  Station  Men 136,733  1 .82 

Switch   Tenders,  Crossing   Tenders, 

tnd  Watchmen 44,698  1.73 

Other  Trackmen 320,762  1.38 


754,950  61 


Total 1,502,823  100 

•  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

^  Annual  Report  of  the  Statistics  of  Railways  in  the  U.  S.  for  year 
ending  June  30,  1909.  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  Washing- 
ton. 1910.     Pp.  34  and  40. 

[175] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

according  to  a  classification  adopted  by  the  Com- 
mission to  facilitate  its  work.  The  wages  are  not 
separated  into  smaller  wage  groups  because,  with 
averages,  the  deductions  may  not  be  too  minutely 
drawn.  If  figures  are  stated  in  detail,  the  temp- 
tation to  draw  detailed  deductions,  overwhelming 
as  it  always  is,  would  be  unjustified  in  the  pres- 
ent case.  Classified  by  average  daily  earnings, 
the  railroad  employees  of  the  United  States  are 
grouped  as  follows.  (The  average  daily  earnings 
are  secured  by  dividing  the  annual  earnings  by 
the  number  of  days  worked.) 

Hence,  even  including  the  "Officers,"  who  are 
not  wage  earners  in  the  sense  that  the  term  has 
been  used  throughout  this  book,  it  appears  that 
in  1909,  51  per  cent,  of  the  million  and  a  half  rail- 
road employees  of  the  United  States  received  less 
than  $625  per  year;  that  9.3  per  cent,  received 
less  than  $1,000  per  year,  leaving  7  per  cent,  who 
earned  more  than  $1,000  annually. 

The  extreme  contrast  between  these  groups  of 
wage  earners  may,  perhaps,  be  more  clearly 
brought  out  by  the  diagram  on  the  opposite  page. 

A  similar  table  is  compiled  for  the  railroads  of 
Group  VI,  comprising  the  States  of  Minnesota, 
Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Illinois,  together  with 
[176] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 


parts  of  North  and  South  Dakota  and  Missouri. 
This  is  the  great  railroad  centre  of  the  ^Middle 
West;  a  Httle  less  than  one-fifth  of  all  of  the 
railroad  employees  in  the  country  are  reported  in 


Over  $1,000 
7  per  cent. 


$625  to  $1,000 
42  per  cent. 


Under  $625 
51  per  cent. 


this  group;  hence  it  is  perhaps  the  most  represen- 
tative railroad  centre  in  the  United  States.  A  com- 
parison of  the  following  table  with  the  table  for  all 
of  the  railroads  of  the  United  States  will  show  that 
while  the  wages  are  slightly  higher  in  the  Middle 
West  than  in  the  entire  country,  the  relative  dis- 
[177] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tribution  over  the  wage  group  remains  practically 
the  same. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES— RAILROADS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES- 
NORTH  CENTRAL  DIVISION! 

Average  Daily  Daily 

Wages  Number  Wages         Per  cent. 

Over  $10     General  Officers 769  $15.43                   * 

$5  to    10     Other  Officers 924  7.88                   * 

4  to      5     Enginemen 10,116  4.39                  4 

3  to      4     Conductors 7,122  4.00                  3 

2  to      3     Machinists 7,595  2 .  97 

Firemen 10,313  2.76 

Other  Trainmen 19,417  2.69 

Carpenters 10,596  2.35 

Telegraph  Operators  and  Dispatchers  6,460  2.28 
Employees — Account  floating  equip- 
ment   66  2.22 

General  Office  Clerks 11,257  2.21 

All  other  Employees  and  Laborers . .  41,923  2.12 
Switch   Tenders,   Crossing   Tenders 

and  Watchmen 8,144  2.06 

Other  Shopmen 39,339  2.06 

Station  Agents 7,503  2.05 


162,613  «0 

$1  to  $2     Section  Foremen 8,764  1.87 

Other  Station  Men 22,975  1 .81 

Other  Trackmen 59,702  1 .42 


91,441 


Total 272,986  100 

The  railroads  of  the  United  States,  employing 
more  persons  than  any  other  single  industry,  pay 
a  wage  of  less  than  $6^5  a  year  to  about  one-half 
of  their  employees,  while  less  than  one  railroad 

!  Supra,  pp.  38  and  43. 

[178] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

employee  in  ten  receives  an  average  wage  of  more 
than  $1,000  annually. 

The  railroads,  let  it  be  remembered,  employ 
almost  exclusively  adult  males  whose  occupations 
are,  in  many  instances,  of  a  highly  skilled  sort — 
conductors,  brakemen,  engineers,  operators  and 
dispatchers  are  men  who  assume  serious  responsi- 
bilities, while  many  other  occupations  involve 
considerable  skill.  In  spite  of  these  obvious  facts, 
the  wages  of  railroad  labor  are  surprisingly  low. 

in.  The  Special  Wage  Reports 

A  careful  analysis  of  four  special  wage  reports 
appears  in  a  previous  chapter.  Two  of  these  four 
reports  (Wisconsin  Telephone  Investigation  and 
Illinois  Department  Store  Investigation)  are  not 
available  for  the  purposes  of  this  chapter,  as  they 
give  figures  for  the  employment  of  women  only 
in  a  very  restricted  field.  The  other  reports 
(Federal  Telephone  Investigation  and  South  Beth- 
lehem Investigation)  provide  excellent  wage  data, 
classified  by  wages  received,  the  first  for  the 
United  States  as  a  whole  and  for  individual 
cities;  the  second  for  one  steel  plant  located  in 
South  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania. 

The  railroad  statistics  were  not  absolute. 
[179] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

While  the  averages  which  they  gave  were  for 
very  restricted  classes  of  employments,  they 
were,  none  the  less,  averages.  Entitled  to  a 
measure  of  recognition,  they  cannot,  however, 
be  compared  to  the  classified  wage  statistics  fur- 
nished in  these  special  reports.  Again,  the  value 
of  these  reports  is  enhanced  by  the  method  of 
compilation, — from  the  pay-rolls  of  the  companies 
involved.  Hence  the  conclusions  based  on  these 
reports  as  to  the  distribution  of  wage  workers  in 
modern  industry,  are  by  far  the  most  reliable  of 
any  which  can  be  reached  from  the  figures  pre- 
sented in  this  study. 

The  figures  secured  in  the  recent  Federal  inves- 
tigation ^  of  telephone  systems  are  classified  by 
monthly  wages,  and  by  sex.  With  the  exception 
of  the  general  officers,  all  of  the  employees  of  the 
Bell  System  are  included.  The  distribution  of 
the  37,760  employees  over  the  various  wage  groups 
is  shown  at  top  of  opposite  page. 

It  therefore  appears  that  61.5  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  number  of  employees,  and  21.1  per  cent,  of 
the  male  employees,  earn  less  than  $600  per  year, 

*  Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies.  Charles  P.  Neill.  Wash- 
ington Government  Print,  1910.  Senate  Document  No.  380,  61st 
Congress,  2nd  Session. 

[180] 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  WAGES 

BELL  TELEPHONE  SYSTEM— WAGES  PAID— 1909-10' 

Yearly  Wages 

Total         Under  $360           $360-$G00          $G00-$960  $960  and  Over 

Employees     No.  Per  ct.        No.  Per  ct.        No.  Per  ct.  No.  Per  ct. 

Bell  System. .  37,760       8,651    22.9        14,572   38.6        10.370    27.5  4,167     11.0 

Males 17,139          C06     3.5          2,994    17.6         9,468   54.6  4,092     24.3 

Females...  20,621        8,045    39.0        11.578    56.2            902     4.4  75         .4 

while  only  11  per  cent,  of  all  of  the  employees, 
and  24.3  per  cent,  of  the  males,  received  more 
than  $960  annually. 

In  considering  these  figures  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  Telephone  industry,  even  more 
markedly  than  the  railroad  industry,  demands 
semi-skilled  and  skilled  employees.  Thus,  of  the 
37,760  employees,  16,258  or  nearly  half  are  opera- 
tors (semi-skilled),  while  the  following  numbers 
represent  more  or  less  skilled  callings. 

Agents 371 

Bookkeepers 316 

Cable  Splicers 716 

Clerks 4,702 

Collectors 536 

Foremen 615 

Inspectors 772 

Installers 1.460 

Linemen 2,028 

Repairmen 679 

Stenographers 441 

Supervisors 1,647 

Wire  Chiefs 319 


1  Supra,  pp.  85  to  87.  14,602 

[181] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

More  than  thirty  thousand  of  the  Bell  Tele- 
phone employees  are  occupying  positions  in- 
volving varying  degrees  of  skill,  danger  and  re- 
sponsibility. Only  about  six  thousand  (17  per 
cent.)  of  the  entire  force  is  left  to  be  accounted 
for.  Of  this  group  but  808  are  classed  as  "labor- 
ers." Among  the  remainder  are  superintendents, 
paymasters,  chief  operators,  and  other  highly 
skilled  or  responsible  employees.  The  employees 
of  the  Bell  System  are  therefore  predominantly 
semi-skilled  or  skilled.  In  spite  of  this  fact,  the 
wages  are  low,  61.5  per  cent,  of  all  the  employees 
receiving  under  $600;  while  of  the  men,  21.1  per 
cent,  received  less  than  $600  and  75.7  per  cent 
received  less  than  $960.  In  a  comparatively  highly 
skilled  industry,  three-quarters  of  the  male  employ- 
ees and  more  than  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the 
female  employees  are  paid  less  than  $1,000  a  year. 

The  contrast  is  sharp  between  the  high-skilled 
Telephone  industry  and  the  Steel  industry,  with 
its  great  masses  of  semi-skilled  and  unskilled 
employees.  The  exhaustive  investigation  of  the 
Bethlehem    Steel    Works     shows    the    following 

^  Report  on  Strike  at  Bethlehem  Steel  Works.  Charles  P.  Neill. 
Washington,  Government  Print,  1910.  Senate  Document  No. 
621,  61st  Congress,  2nd  Session.    P.  60. 

[182] 


THE   DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

classification    of   employees    (exclusive   of   office 
force,  superintendents  and  general  officers). 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMPLOYEES  BY  WAGES  PER  HOUR 

(Apprentices  Omitted) 


10  to  16  cents  per  hour 4,221 

16  "  22     "       "        "   

22  "  80     "       "        "   

30  "  42     "       "        "   

42  cents  and  over  per  hour 


Apprentices . 


Total 

Per  cent. 

4,221 

45.9 

2,390 

26.1 

1,586 

17.2 

630 

6.9 

122 

1.3 

235 

2.6 

9,184 


100.0 


42  cents 
and  over 


30  to 
42  cents 


a     22  to 
"-  30  cents 

UJ 

a 

<i 

^     16  to 

22  cents 


10  to 
16  cents 


122 

Diagrammed, 
.  appear  thus : — 

the   figures 

630 

1.586 

2,390 

4,221 

NUMBER  OF  EMPLOYEES 
[  183] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Somewhat  less  than  10  per  cent,  of  the  railroad 
employees  earned  over  $1,000  per  year.  The  same 
fact  holds  true  of  one  great  Eastern  steel  plant. 
In  the  Telephone  industry,  manned  almost  wholly 
by  skilled  and  semi-skilled  persons,  23  per  cent, 
of  the  employees  are  paid  more  than  $1,000  an- 
nually. What  additional  light  on  this  problem 
can  be  gained  by  a  perusal  of  State  wage  reports? 

IV.  The  Material  from  State  Labor 
Reports 

The  reports  of  the  State  bureaus  of  labor  fur- 
nish some  data  which  assists  materially  in  deter- 
mining the  distribution  of  wage  earners  in  the 
varying  industrial  States.  The  only  State  reports 
which  are  of  real  value  in  such  a  determination 
are  those  which  publish  classified  earnings, — 
Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Kansas  and  Wiscon- 
sin. The  wage  material  for  these  States  is  com- 
piled on  the  basis  of  classified  weekly  earnings  for 
men,  women  and  children.  The  purpose  of  this 
chapter  will  be  adequately  served  by  a  discussion 
of  the  wages  of  males  and  females.  A  summary 
of  the  classified  wages  of  males  appears  in  the 
following  table. 

'[  184  ] 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  WAGES 


PERCENTAGES  OF  CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS— MALES.  IN  ALL 
INDUSTRIES— BY  STATES  ' 


Classified  Weekly 


Under  $5 


Percentage  of  Total  Adult  Malen 
(21  years  and 

over)  (16  years  and  over) 


Massachusetts    New  Jersey 
1909* 


$5,  but  under  $6 

6,    " 

7 

6,    " 

8 

8,    " 

9 

9,    " 

"      10 

10,   ■• 

"       12 

12,    " 

"       15 

15,    " 

"      20 

20  and 

over 

Total  employed .  . 


19081 

1 

1 

3 

7 

9 

U 

17 

20 

20 


100 
350,118 


100 
20-1,782 


Kansas 
1909" 

2 

1 

2 

3 

4 
14 
20 
24 
21 

9 

100 
60,720 


Percentage 
ot  Total 
Males 
Wisconsin 
1900-7* 
S 
1 
3 
5 
4 
20 
23 
30 
9 
2 

100 
128,334 


Up  to  this  point,  nothing  has  been  said  about 
the  Wisconsin  wage  statistics,  hence  a  word  of 
explanation  is  in  order.  Wisconsin  pubhshes  wage 
data  minutely  classified  by  daily  wages,  covering 
adults,  males  and  females,  grouped  by  industries. 
Unlike  most  of  the  State  reports,  the  Wisconsin 
figures  relate,  not  only  to  wage  earners,  but  to  all 
employees,  hence  they  are  not  exactly  comparable 
with  the  data  from  the  other  States.     Further- 

1  Statistics  of  Manufacture,  1908.    Boston,  1909.    P.  82. 

2  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1909.    Camden,  1910.    P.  120. 

»  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909.    Topeka,  1910.    P.  10. 
*  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Wisconsin,  1907-8.     Madison,  1909. 
P.  464. 

[185] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

more,  the  latest  available  Wisconsin  figures 
(June  1,  1911)  are  those  for  1906-7.  As  these 
figures  relate  to  the  period  before  the  last  indus- 
trial depression,  while  the  other  group  of  statis- 
tics refer  to  the  period  since  the  panic,  they  are 
not  strictly  parallel.  They  are  inserted  here,  only 
because  of  the  desire  to  present  all  available  data, 
and  not  because  of  the  inherent  value  of  the 
statistics.  The  industries  of  Wisconsin  are  sim- 
ilar to  those  of  Kansas,  since  one  in  seven  of  the 
employees  are  women.  While  not  warranting  a 
detailed  analysis,  the  Wisconsin  figures  may  be 
included  in  a  general  comparison. 

The  most  noticeable  element  in  the  table  just 
presented  is  the  marked  uniformity  which  pre- 
vails between  the  wages  of  adult  males  in  States 
as  widely  separated  as  Massachusetts,  New  Jer- 
sey and  Kansas.  With  the  exception  of  the  dif- 
ferent minimum  (21  years  in  Massachusetts  and 
16  years  in  the  other  two  States),  the  figures  are 
absolutely  comparable.  When  this  slight  Massa- 
chusetts variation  is  considered,  it  would  appear 
that  the  wages  in  Kansas  are  somewhat  higher 
than  the  wages  in  the  other  two  States.  This  is 
doubtless  due  to  the  variation  in  the  character  of 
the  industries  in  the  Eastern  and  in  the  Middle 
[186] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

Western  States.  The  textile  industries  (Cotton 
in  Massachusetts  and  Silk  in  New  Jersey)  claim 
a  large  portion  of  the  working  population,  while 
the  textile  industries  are  a  negligible  factor  in 
Kansas.  The  conclusions  from  the  data  pub- 
lished by  these  four  States  furnishing  the  most 
reliable  wage  statistics  are  obvious.  Approx- 
imately one-third  of  the  adult  male  wage  earners 
receive  less  than  $500  annually;  two-thirds  receive 
less  than  $750  a  year;  nine-tenths  earn  less  than 
$1,000  annually,  and  eight  or  nine  per  cent,  earn 
wages  of  more  than  $1,000.  Thus  the  wages  from 
the  State  reports  correspond  almost  exactly  with 
the  South  Bethlehem  and  railroad  wages;  for  all 
three  cases  there  are  just  under  one-tenth  of  the 
male  wage  earners  receiving  more  than  $1,000 
annually. 

Turning,  for  a  moment,  to  the  females,  a  very 
similar  grouping  is  presented.  The  percentages  of 
females  in  the  various  States  receiving  classified 
weekly  wages  are  shown  on  the  following  page. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  in 
Massachusetts  the  age  of  adults  is  "21  years  and 
over"  instead  of  "16  years  and  over,"  as  in  the 
other  States,  while  in  Wisconsin  all  females,  chil- 
dren as  well  as  adults,  are  included,  the  figures 
[187] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


PERCENTAGES   OF   CLASSIFIED   WEEKLY   EARNINGS   OF   FEMALES 
IN  ALL  INDUSTRIES— BY  STATES 


Percentage 

Classified  Weekly 

Percentage 

of  Total  Adult  Females 

of  Total 

Earnings 

(21  years  and 

over 

)     (16  years 

and 

over) 

Females 

Massachusetts 

New  Jersey 

Kansas 

Wisconsin 

19081 

19091 

19091 

1906-71 

Under  $5.... 

8 

22 

25 

38 

$5,  but  under 

$6 

10 

19 

17 

18 

6, 

7 

16 

19 

19 

23 

7, 

8 

17 

13 

12 

11 

8, 

9 

16 

9 

9 

S 

9, 

10 

13 

7 

6 

6 

10, 

12 

13 

6 

8 

S 

12, 

15 

6 

4 

2 

S 

15,    " 

20 

2 

1 

2 

• 

20  and  over 

* 

* 

* 

• 

100 

100 

100 

100 

Total  employed 

144,935 

68,360 

3,599 

21,937 

*Less 

than  1  per  cent. 

are  remarkably  uniform.  In  all  cases,  less  than 
one  per  cent,  of  the  females  receive  a  wage  over 
$20  per  week;  from  one-half  to  four-fifths  receive 
less  than  $8  per  week;  while  the  percentages  at 
the  various  other  wage  levels  vary  no  more  than 
might  be  expected  when  the  various  methods  of 
statistical  compilation  are  considered. 

New  Jersey  and  Kansas,  the  only  two  States 
which,  owing  to  similar  statistical  methods,  are 
absolutely  comparable,  show  almost  exactly  the 
same  percentages  of  wage  earners  at  the  various 

^  References  same  as  for  table  on  page  185. 
[188] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

wage  groups.  This  table  therefore  justifies  the 
conclusion  that  the  percentage  of  females  receiv- 
ing specified  wages  varies  no  more  from  State  to 
State  than  the  percentage  of  males. 

V.    The  Distribution  of  Wages  in  American 
Industry 

In  this  chapter  is  set  down,  as  fully  as  may  be, 
an  answer  to  the  numerous  queries  concerning 
the  number  of  American  wage  earners  who  could 
be  classed  in  the  different  wage  groups.  The 
evidence  from  the  railroads,  and  the  Steel  indus- 
try dealt  primarily  with  adult  males,  hence  in 
making  the  comparisons,  adult  males  have  been 
considered  primarily  throughout. 

The  first  group  of  statistics,  compiled  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  showed  that 
of  the  million  and  a  half  railroad  employees  of 
the  United  States  one-half  received  an  average 
wage  under  $600,  while  less  than  one-tenth  showed 
an  average  wage  over  $1,000.  The  statistics  in 
the  second  group,  taken  on  the  one  hand  from  a 
comparatively  skilled  industry,  showed  21  per 
cent,  of  the  employees  under  $C00;  55.6  per  cent, 
from  $600  to  $960;  and  24.3  per  cent,  over  $960; 
while  the  special  report  on  the  steel  works  at 
[189] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

South  Bethlehem  discovered  45.9  per  cent,  of  the 
employees  under  16  cents  per  hour  (about  $575 
per  year);  72  per  cent,  under  22  cents  per  hour 
(about  $750  per  year);  leaving  8.2  per  cent, 
receiving  wages  of  over  $1,000  per  year.  The 
reports  from  four  State  labor  bureaus  which  pub- 
lish classified  earnings,  show  that  approximately 
50  per  cent,  of  the  adult  male  wage  earners  receive 
wages  of  less  than  $12  per  week  ($600  per  year); 
three-quarters  receive  wages  of  less  than  $15  per 
week  ($750  per  year) ;  while  more  than  nine-tenths 
receive  less  than  $20  per  week  ($1,000  per  year). 
The  most  marked  uniformity  therefore  prevails 
among  the  various  sources  of  material  dealing 
with  the  distribution  of  wage  earners  throughout 
industry.  From  the  available  material,  it  appears 
that  roughly,  one-tenth  of  the  industrial  wage 
earners  are  paid  more  than  $1,000  annually;  that 
three-quarters  receive  less  than  $750,  while  a  half 
receive  less  than  $600  per  year. 

These  facts  may  be  expressed  as  shown  in  the 
diagram  on  the  opposite  page. 

The  data  regarding  the  wage  distribution  of 

females  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  practically 

no  adult  females  receive  more  than  $1,000  per 

year;    that  about  2  per  cent,  receive  from  $750  to 

[190] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WAGES 

AMERICAN    INDUSTRIAL    WAGE    WORKERS 
(ADULT  MALES) 


10  per 
cent. 


40  per  cent. 


50  per  cent. 


Skilled 
(ever  $1,000  per  year) 

Semi-.skilied 
($600  to  $1,000  per  year) 

Unskilled 
(under  $G00  per  year) 


$1,000;  that  one-quarter  receive  from  $400  to 
$750;  while  three-quarters  are  paid  less  than  $400, 
and  three-fifths  receive  less  than  $350  per  year. 

Here,  in  brief  compass,  is  an  effective  answer 
to  the  oft  repeated  cry  of  "plenty  of  room  at  the 
top."  The  wage  workers  are  distributed  over  the 
wage  groups  in  a  pyramid, — large  at  the  base  and 
tapering  toward  the  apex.  Half  of  them  work  for 
less  than  $600,  and  only  one-tenth  receive  more 
than  a  thousand  dollars  annually. 


[191] 


CHAPTER  X 

WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

(1908-1910) 

I.   Unemployment   as   a   Modifying   Factor 

There  is  a  real  demand  for  facts  regarding 
wages  in  the  United  States, — a  demand  based  on 
the  necessity  of  discussing  the  Standard  of  Liv- 
ing, the  Cost  of  Living  and  other  hke  problems 
from  a  fact  basis.  The  material  for  a  study  of 
wage  facts  is,  however,  meagre.  There  are  a  few 
States  which  publish  classified  wage  statistics; 
four  special  wage  investigations  have  been  made 
in  recent  years;  and  in  addition  to  these  reliable 
sources  of  information,  several  State  and  Federal 
reports  print  statistics  of  average  wages.  With 
the  exception  of  this  limited  source  of  material,  there 
are  no  data  on  current  wages  in  the  United  States, 
consequently,  while  conclusions  may  justly  be 
drawn  from  the  localities  which  publish  the  data, 
the  statements  of  wages  in  the  United  States  at 
large  must  be  based  on  inferences  alone. 

The  value  of  these  inferences  is,  however, 
[  192  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

greatly  strengthened  by  the  remarkable  uniform- 
ity in  the  conclusions  which  may  be  based  on  an 
analysis  of  the  various  wage  reports.  The  pres- 
ent chapter  will  state,  in  brief  form,  the  nature 
of  the  inferences  for  the  industrial  section  of  the 
United  States,  which  may  be  based  on  the  mate- 
rial already  cited  in  the  preceding  chapters. 

In  the  consideration  of  w^age  statistics,  there  is 
one  element  which  must  be  constantly  borne  in 
mind, — that  is  the  extent  of  unemployment. 
Even  in  the  States  which  furnish  statistics  of  the 
number  of  days  worked  by  a  given  industry,  the 
unemployment  problem  is  not  adequately  con- 
sidered, because  the  personal  incapacity  of  the 
employee  is  completely  ignored. 

That  unemployment  is  a  problem  of  serious 
magnitude  is  clearly  indicated  by  Dr.  Devine, 
who  states,  after  an  analysis  of  the  causes  of 
destitution  in  five  thousand  New  York  famihes, 
that  unemployment  affected  4,424  individuals  in 
69.16  per  cent,  of  the  five  thousand  families, 
while,  of  the  twenty-five  separate  disabilities 
which  led  to  destitution,  unemployment  occupies 
the  leading  place. ^     Unemployment  (involuntary 

^  Misery  and  Its  Causes  .  Dr.  Edward  T.  Devine.  N.  Y.,  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  1909.     P.  204. 

[  193  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 

idleness  during  normal  work  time)  is  a  prime  ele- 
ment in  creating  poverty,  because  it  is  a  most 
potent  factor  in  lowering  annual  earnings. 

While  it  is  impossible  to  state  the  exact  extent 
of  unemployment  in  the  United  States,  a  fairly 
accurate  estimate  may  be  based  on  the  available 
unemployment  data.  Any  analysis  of  the  extent 
of  unemployment  should,  however,  be  preceded 
by  a  brief  statement  of  the  causes  underlying  the 
phenomenon. 

The  causes  of  unemployment  are  divisible  into 
two  groups, — (1)  Personal  causes,  and  (2)  indus- 
trial causes.    The  personal  causes, — 

a  Malnutrition 
b  Sickness 
c  Accident 
d  IneflBciency 

operate  Independent  of  industry,  forcing  idleness 
upon  willing  workers,  through  some  incapacity  of 
the  workers  themselves. 

No  statistics  are  available  which  give  the 
extent  of  malnutrition  in  the  United  States. 
Many  school  children  are  known  to  be  underfed, 
men  and  women  are  continually  entering  hos- 
pitals in  an  ansemic  condition,  yet  the  extent  of 
[194] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

this  underfeeding,  which  so  evidently  prevails  on 
every  side,  is  most  diflfieult  to  ascertain.  Neither 
is  there  any  method  of  deciding  just  how  much 
unemployment  is  caused  by  sickness  and  acci- 
dent. Sickness  and  accident  certainly  exist  and 
their  existence  must,  without  doubt,  cause  unem- 
ployment, yet  the  exact  extent  of  the  two  phe- 
nomena is  unknown.  In  his  "National  Vitality," 
Irving  Fisher  estimates  that  in  the  United  States 
there  are  probably  at  all  times  3,000,000  seriously 
ill.i  These  statistics,  which  refer  to  serious  ill- 
ness, take  no  account  of  "minor  ailments."  Dr. 
Castle  of  Cincinnati,  "from  an  experience  of 
many  years  in  the  medical  supervision  of  institu- 
tion employees  and  general  practice,"  estimates 
that  there  is  an  average  of  at  least  three  days' 
time  lost  annually  for  each  person  in  the  popula- 
tion for  such  minor  ailments.  Dr.  J.  F.  Morse  of 
the  Battle  Creek  Sanitarium,  who  has  had  a  wide 
medical  experience,  estimates  that  the  "well  man" 
loses  on  an  average  five  days  a  year  from  work,  on 
account  of  headaches,  toothaches,  "colds,"  and 
similar  minor  ailments.^    Turning  for  a  moment 

^National  Vitality.    Irving  Fisher.    Government  Print,  Washing- 
ton, 1909.    P.  34. 
^  Supra,  39. 

[195] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

to  "accidents,"  it  has  been  conservatively  esti- 
mated that  500,000  persons  are  killed  and  injured 
each  year  in  American  industry.^  This  computa- 
tion is  of  course  independent  of  accidents  due  to 
fires,  falls  and  the  other  individual  mishaps  that 
are  of  such  everyday  occurrence.  Both  sickness 
and  accident  are  therefore  of  frequent  occurrence, 
although  the  exact  frequency  of  neither  can  be 
determined. 

That  ineflSciency  is  a  cause  of  unemployment  is 
indicated  by  the  following  summary  of  returns 
from  the  operation  of  the  British  Unemployed 
Workingman's  Act.  Of  a  group  of  unemployed 
men,  coming  before  one  of  the  London  Distress 
Committees,  86  per  cent,  were  unskilled,  56  per 
cent,  were  casual  laborers,  37  per  cent,  owed  their 
position  to  age,  inefficiency  or  bad  character;  41 
per  cent,  were  of  indifferent  eflSciency.^ 

So  much  can  be  said  of  the  personal  causes  of 
unemployment.  The  everyday  experience  of  each 
man  or  woman  confirms  their  presence,  though  it 
throws  no  light  on  their  total  extent.  All  of  these 
causes  operate  upon  the  individual,  irrespective  of 

^  Social  Adjustment.  Scott  Nearing.  New  York,  The  Macmillan 
Co..  1911.    Page  233. 

2  Work  and  Wages.  Syduey  J.  Chapman.  New  York,  Longmans 
Green  &  Co.,  1908.     P.  304. 

[196] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

his  industrial  position,  hence  they  are  necessarily 
ignored  by  any  statistics  which  are  based  on 
the  number  of  days  annually  worked  by  any 
industry. 

Quite  a  different  problem  confronts  the  student 
in  the  second  group  of  unemployment  causes. 
Those  unemployed  because  of  personal  inca- 
pacity, are  not  earning  wages  because  they  are 
personally  unable  to  do  so.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  strong,  robust  men  and  women,  seeking 
work  and  unable  to  secure  it, — disemployed.  The 
chief  industrial  causes  of  unemployment  are, — 

1.  Seasonal  trades 

2.  Industrial  crises 

3.  Labor  troubles 

4.  Lack  of  stock  or  transportation  facilities 

5.  Casual  trades 

Seasonal  trades,  which  are  common,  neces- 
sarily involve  unemployment.  Outside  construc- 
tion work,  glass  manufacturing  and  coal  mining 
are  typical  of  the  trades  in  which  unemployment 
is  several  times  greater  at  one  season  of  the  year 
than  it  is  at  another.  Unemployment  is  generally 
less  frequent  in  summer  than  in  winter  (coal 
mining  and  clothing  industries  excepted).  In 
[  19'^'  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ordinarily  prosperous  years,  some  trades  (build- 
ing, teaming)  show  winter  unemployment  of  more 
than  30  per  cent. 

The  effects  of  crises  and  labor  troubles  in  un- 
employment are  apparent.  The  English  figures, 
excellently  presented  by  Chapman  ^  and  Bever- 
idge,2  are  paralleled  in  the  United  States  by  the 
figures  of  unemployment  procurable  from  the 
coal  mine  reports^  and  the  reports  of  the  New 
York  Bureau  of  Labor  statistics/  The  coal  mine 
figures  are  more  extensive  and  show  that  a  coal 
miner  may  expect  unemployment  equivalent  to 
one-fourth  or  one-third  of  his  entire  working  time. 
In  years  of  depression,  his  unemployment  may 
increase  to  one-half  his  working  time.^  The 
New  York  figures  show  a  steady  decrease  in  un- 
employment from  1897  to  1906,  from  which  year 
there  was  a  constant  increase  until  March,  1908, 
when  the  unemployment  for  all  trades  was  35.7 
per  cent. 

1  Supra,  p.  316. 

2  Unemployment.    W.  H.  Beveridge.    New  York,  Longmans  Green 
&  Co.,  1909.     Ch.  IV. 

3  The  Production  of  Coal  in  the  U.  S.    Edward  W.  Parker.    Wash- 
ington, Government  Print,  1908. 

*  Bulletin  41,  New  York  Dept.  of  Labor,  p.  114. 
^  Unemployment  in  the  U.  S.    Scott  Nearing.    Quarterly  Publica- 
tions, Am.  Stat.  Assn.,  Sept.,  1909,  pp.  530-5. 

1 198  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

For  the  unionized  trades  of  New  York  State, 
for  the  coal  industry  of  the  United  States,  and  by 
inference  for  the  other  industries  of  the  United 
States,  we  may  draw  these  conclusions, — 

A  Unemployment  is  always  a  factor  in 
modern  industry. 

B  The  average  miner  can  work,  from  year 
to  year,  about  two-thirds  of  the  time. 

C  In  other  industries,  the  average  unem- 
ployment from  year  to  year  is  almost 
one-fifth. 

D  In  some  years  the  unemployment  is  sev- 
eral times  more  severe  than  in  others.* 

Strikes  and  miscalculation  in  the  supply  of 
stock  or  transportation  facilities  are  constantly 
recurring  factors  in  every  industry.  Unemploy- 
ment due  to  these  causes  is  not  extensive.  A 
serious  cause  of  unemployment  exists,  however, 
in  the  "casual  trades,"  which  never  employ  men 
regularly.  The  casual  laborers  are  recruited  from 
the  unskilled,  inefficient,  aged  and  defective  group, 
who  are  unable  to  keep  a  permanent  position. ^ 

1  Supra,  p.  539. 

*  Unemployment.    W.  H.  Beveridge.    New  York,  Longmans  Green 
&  Co.,  1909.     Ch.  v. 

[199] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

As  casual  labor  presupposes  inefficiency,  the  cas- 
ual laborer  becomes  less  and  less  able  to  keep  his 
place  in  the  industrial  world.  Casual  labor  un- 
questionably exists  in  the  United  States,  but  just 
how  extensively  cannot  be  decided.  One  thing  is 
clear, — casual  labor  is  ineflBcient,  cheap,  and  dis- 
astrous to  the  casual  laborer. 

So,  "the  various  elements  in  the  problem  lead 
ultimately  to  a  degree  of  unemployment,  varying 
with  the  year,  the  season  of  the  year,  and  some- 
times, in  the  case  of  casual  labor,  with  the  day 
of  the  week.  In  each  case  workers  are  without 
the  work  upon  which  they  are  dependent  for  a 
livelihood."  ^ 

Here,  then,  is  a  problem  of  fundamental  con- 
cern, which  no  wage  study  can  overlook,  since 
the  mere  statement  of  wage  statistics  is  not  neces- 
sarily a  statement  of  wages.  In  fact,  unless  the 
unemployment  due  to  both  personal  and  indus- 
trial causes  has  been  taken  into  account,  the 
statistics  are  far  from  accurate.  In  view  of  these 
considerations,  it  is  interesting  to  inquire  what 
value  may  be  attached  to  the  various  forms  of 
wage  statement. 

^  Social  Adjustment.    Scott  Nearing.    New  York,  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  1911.     P.  276. 

[200] 


WAGES   IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

In  a  simple  statement  of  wages  per  day,  unem- 
ployment is  not  considered  at  all,  since  any  em- 
ployee may  be  sick  or  out  of  work  for  a  particular 
day.  In  these  wage  statistics  which  furnish  class- 
ified weekly  earnings,  together  with  the  number 
of  days  per  year  worked  in  a  given  industry,  the 
industrial  causes  of  unemployment  are  alone 
considered.  These  statistics,  while  far  from  sat- 
isfactory, are  much  more  accurate  than  those 
which  give  data  for  daily  or  weekly  wages  only. 
A  third  group  of  wage  statistics,  secured  by 
dividing  the  total  annual  earnings  in  an  industry 
by  the  average  number  of  employees,  while  most 
unsatisfactory  in  some  respects,  represents  actual 
wages,  with  unemployment,  from  all  sources,  de- 
ducted. These  average  wages  are  of  course  wholly 
inadequate,  as  was  indicated  in  the  chapter  on 
"The  Statistics  of  Average  Wages,"  nevertheless 
they  are  the  only  wage  statistics  which  give  due 
weight  to  all  forms  of  unemployment. 

The  statistics  cited  in  the  study  must  therefore 
be  weighed  with  the  problem  of  unemployment  in 
mind.  As  unemployment  varies  with  the  year 
and  the  industry,  so  wages  for  different  years  and 
different  industries  are  modified  in  varying  pro- 
portion by  the  unemployment  factor.  Certainly 
[201  ] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

none  of  the  wage  statistics  cited  are  lower  than 
the  wages  actually  paid  each  year.  If  any  revi- 
sion of  these  wages  statistics  is  to  be  made,  and 
some  revision  is  obviously  necessary,  it  will  be  a 
revision  downward. 


II.    Wage  Variation  with  Industry,  Sex,  Age 
AND  Geographic  Location 

Any  consideration  of  wages  must  therefore  take 
unemployment  into  serious  account,  since  without 
it  no  statement  of  wages  paid,  based  on  daily  or 
weekly  wages,  can  be  accurate.  In  answering  the 
question,  "What  are  wages?"  there  are  four  other 
factors  which,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  influence 
the  reply.  Wages  vary  with  the  industry,  the  sex, 
the  age,  and  the  geographic  location;  hence  no 
statement  of  wages  can  be  made  without  consider- 
ing all  of  these  items. 

The  wage  variation  from  industry  to  industry 
is  extreme,  even  within  the  same  State.  A  com- 
parison of  various  States,  does  not,  however,  show 
any  greater  variations,  as  will  be  seen  from  a 
study  of  the  wages  of  adult  males  in  the  leading 
industries  of  the  three  States  publishing  classified 
weekly  earnings, — 

[202] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 


CUISIULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  ADULT  ISIALES  IN  THE  LEADING 
INDUSTRIES,  RECEIVING  CERTAIN  CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  WAGES 

1908-9  / 

ISIassachusetts— 1908 » 

Classified  Weekly  Cotton  Boots  and 

Wages  Goods  Shoes 

Under  $8 31  >                 11 

"       12 77  37 

"       15 91  fiS 

"      20 97  84 

$20  and  over 3  16 

New  Jersey — 1909  s 
Classified  Weekly  Silk  (Broad  and 

Wages                          Ribbon)  Machinery 

Under  $8 21  15 

"       12 52  43 

"       15 74  68 

"       20 95  92 

$20  and  over 5  8 

Kansas — 1909  » 

Classified  Weekly  Cars  and  Coal 

Wages  Shops  Mining 

Under  $8 7  8 

"       12 61  26 

"       15 74  46 

"       20 92  78 

$20  and  over 8  22 


Foundry 

6 
46 
68 
94 

6 


Woollen  and 
Worsted 
38 
70 
83 
93 
7 


Worsted 
Goods 
21 
64 
83 
87 
3 


Oils 
3 
53 
«0 
94 
6 


Slaughtering  and  Binding    & 

Meat  Packing  Printing 

7  20 

64  40 

84  55 

96  80 

4  20 


Thus,  a  wide  variation  appears  between  the 
wages  paid  to  adult  males  in  the  leading  industries 
of  the  same  State  and  of  different  States.  In  the 
textile  industries  the  wages  are  universally  low, 
while  in  other  industries,  such  as  Oils  and  Machin- 
ery, wages  are  considerably  higher  than  they  are 

1  Chapter  III.  ^  Chapter  IV.  3  Chapter  V. 

[203] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  the  textile  industry.  In  the  entire  group  of 
statistics,  the  proportion  of  employees  receiving 
any  group  of  wages, — for  instance  more  than  $20 
per  week,  varies  from  3  to  22  per  cent.  It  would, 
under  these  circumstances,  be  impossible  to  state 
what  wages  were  being  paid  in  any  one  State, 
without  modifying  the  statement  by  a  reference 
to  the  wide  difference  between  the  various  indus- 
tries in  that  State. 

An  equally  great  discrepancy  appears  between 
the  wages  of  males  in  the  Bell  telephone  system, 
24,3  per  cent,  of  whom  are  paid  more  than  $960 
per  year,^  and  the  wages  of  males  in  the  South 
Bethlehem  steel  works,  8.2  per  cent,  of  whom 
receive  more  than  $1,000  annually.^  So,  too,  in 
the  case  of  women  in  Illinois  industry,  the  wages 
in  the  department  stores  are  very  much  higher 
than  the  wages  in  the  factories.^ 

A  considerable  difference  exists  between  the 
wages  of  males  and  of  females,  in  different  indus- 
tries and  in  the  same  industry.  There  is  no  one 
industry  in  any  of  the  States  publishing  classified 
weekly  earnings  in  which  the  wages  of  women  are 
higher,  on  the  average,  than  the  wages  of  men, 
while  there  are  several  industries  in  which  the 

1  Chapter  VL 
[204] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

wages  of  men  are  nearly  twice  as  great,  on  the 
average,  as  the  wages  of  women. 

Age  also  plays  a  large  part  in  determining  wages. 
In  industries  like  Cotton  Spinning,  Silk  Throwing, 
Box  Making  and  Confectionery  Manufacture,  in 
which  large  numbers  of  children  and  young  per- 
sons are  employed,  average  earnings  are  very  low, 
while  in  other  industries,  such  as  Foundry  and 
Machine  Shop,  Coal  Mining,  Oils,  and  Machinery, 
where  children  cannot  be  extensively  employed, 
wages  range  much  higher. 

Geographic  location  probably  has  something  to 
do  with  wages.  Of  the  States  recently  publishing 
classified  weekly  wages,  Massachusetts,  New  Jer- 
sey and  Kansas,  the  last  named  State  shows  the 
highest  wages.  This  variation  may  be  due  to  the 
varying  characters  of  the  industries  in  Kansas,  or 
it  may  be  due  to  the  higher  standard  of  wages 
maintained  in  the  West.  In  the  Telephone  indus- 
try, there  is  a  decided  variation  in  the  wages  of 
telephone  ''operators";  from  the  South  Central 
group  of  States  where  wages  are  much  lower,  to 
the  Western  States,  where  wages  are  considerably 
higher  than  they  are  in  the  three  Eastern  groups 
of  States.  So,  too,  in  this  industry,  the  wages  of 
"operators"  was  much  higher  in  the  larger  than 
[205  J 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 

in  the  smaller  cities.  The  statistics  of  railroad 
wages  tend  to  confirm  this  statement  regarding 
wage  variation  from  one  geographic  area  to  an- 
other, since,  in  the  South  Central  they  were  lower, 
and  in  the  Western  States  slightly  higher  than  in 
the  remainder  of  the  country.  There  was  one 
exception  to  this  statement,  however.  The  con- 
ductors and  enginemen  show  lower  wages  in  New 
England  than  anywhere  else,  while  the  wages  of 
other  employees  were  only  slightly  higher  in  the 
West  than  in  the  East  and  South. 

The  variation  of  wages  from  city  to  city  and 
from  large  to  small  cities  is  neither  great  nor 
regular.  For  similar  industries  in  Ohio,^  Kansas,^ 
and  Massachusetts,^  the  range  of  wages  does  not 
follow  the  size  of  the  cities  at  all, — lower  wages 
being  paid  in  some  large  than  in  some  small 
towns,  reporting  the  same  industry.  Geographic 
location  is  therefore  a  factor  that  deserves  at 
least  a  measure  of  consideration. 

Bearing  in  mind  these  factors — unemployment, 
and  wage  variation  with  industry,  sex,  age  and 
geographic  location — we  may  now  seek  to  answer, 
as  accurately  as  may  be,  the  question,  "What  are 
wages.'*" 

1  Chapter  VIII. 
[206] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

III.     Wages  in  the  United  States^-Average 
AND  Actual 

Both  average  and  classified  wage  statistics  must 
be  considered  in  answering  the  question,  "What 
are  wages?"  Average  wages  have  their  disadvan- 
tages— they  do  not  accurately  represent  the  earn- 
ings of  any  one  group  of  individuals.  On  the  other 
hand  they  are  more  accurate  in  that,  when  they 
are  secured  by  dividing  total  earnings  for  a  year 
by  the  average  number  of  employees,  they  make 
all  allowances  for  the  problem  of  unemployment. 

The  most  reliable  average  wage  data  is  really 
furnished  by  States  (Massachusetts  and  New  Jer- 
sey) which  publish  the  best  statistics  of  classified 
earnings.  There  are,  however,  four  additional 
States,  Michigan,  Rhode  Island,  New  Hampshire 
and  Pennsylvania,  which  publish  average  wage 
data  of  some  merit.  A  comparison  of  the  average 
wage  statistics  published  by  these  six  States  forms 
the  best  available  basis  for  statements  regarding 
average  wages. 

There  is  little  variation  in  average  wages  from 

State  to  State  or  from  industry  to  industry,  when 

the  varying  methods  of  compiling  the  State  data 

are  taken  into  account.    Average  wages  range,  in 

[207] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  leading  industries,  from  $450  to  $600  per 
year, — seldom  rising  above  the  latter  figure  ex- 
cept in  industries  like  Petroleum  and  Malt 
Liquors,  for  which  considerable  skill  is  a  prere- 
quisite to  employment,  and  in  which  males  only 
are  employed.  There  is  a  wide  variation  between 
the  average  wages  in  these  industries  and  in  in- 
dustries like  Confectionery  and  Paper  Box  Manu- 
facturing, which  employ  a  majority  of  women,  and 
in  which  the  average  annual  earnings  fall  below 
$400. 

In  view  of  all  of  the  evidence,  it  is  fair  to  say 
that  the  adult  male  wage  workers  in  the  indus- 
tries of  that  section  of  the  United  States  lying 
east  of  the  Rockies  and  north  of  the  Mason  and 
Dixon  Line  receive  a  total  average  annual  wage 
of  about  $600;  that  this  falls  to  $500  in  some  of 
the  industries  employing  the  largest  numbers  of 
persons,  but  rises  to  $700  or  even  to  $750  in  a  few 
highly  skilled  industries.  That  the  average  annual 
earnings  of  adult  females  in  the  same  area  is  about 
$350,  with  a  very  slight  range,  in  the  industries 
employing  large  numbers  of  adult  females. 

Statistics  of  classified  wages  are  published  in : — 

1.  A  few  State  reports. 

2.  The  Telephone  Investigation. 

[208] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

3.  The  Bethlehem  Steel  Works  Investiga- 

tion. 

4.  The  reports  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 

Commission  in  Railroad  Statistics. 

From  these  four  sources  some  information  may 
be  derived  regarding  the  wages  paid  to  both  males 
and  females.  First,  therefore,  as  to  the  wages  of 
males.  The  table  containing  a  brief  summary  of 
the  available  data  on  the  wages  of  adult  males, 
is  secured  from  the  sources  indicated.  In  order 
to  simplify  the  table,  only  five  wage  groups  have 
been  retained,  while  the  cumulative  percentages 
only  are  considered  in  each  case.    (See  next  page.) 

With  one  exception  (Bell  Telephone  Company) 
these  statistics  are  remarkably  uniform.  About 
one-half  of  the  adult  males  included  receive  less 
than  $12  per  week  ($600  per  year);  while  less 
than  one-tenth  receive  wages  of  more  than  $1,000 
per  year.  The  Bell  Telephone  Company,  a  rela- 
tively high-class  industry,  enjoying  almost  no 
unskilled  help,  reports  20  per  cent,  of  its  employees 
as  receiving  more  than  $1,000.  With  this  one 
exception,  all  of  the  reports  are  in  practical  agree- 
ment. Did  these  statistics  emanate  from  one 
source,  or  were  they  based  on  one  investigation, 
or  derived  through  one  statistical  method,  they 
[209] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  MALES  RECEIVING  CERTAIN 
CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS— COMPILED  FROM  CERTAIN 
REPORTS— 1908-1910 


Classified  Weekly 
Earnings 


Massachusetts!    New  Jersey*  Kansas' 


1908 


1909 


1909 


(21  years  and      (16  years  and      (16  years  and 


Under  $8 

"       12 

"       15 

"       20 

$20  and  over 

Total  employed 


over) 

Per  cent. 

12 

52 

72 
92 


350,118 


over) 
Per  cent. 
18 
57 
74 
91 


204,782 


over) 
Per  cent 
8 
46 
70 
91 


50,720 


Wisconsin* 
1906-7 

(AH  males) 

Per  cent. 

12 

69 


98 

2 


128,334 


Bell  Telephone         Bethlehem  Steel        Railroads  of  the 


Classified  Weekly 
Earnings 

Under  $8 

"       12 

"       15 

"       20 

$20  and  over 

Total  employed. 


Company  * 

1910 
(All  males) 
Per  cent. 


32 
80 
20 

171,139 


Works* 

1910 

(All  males) 

Per  cent. 

8 

60 

75 

92 


United  States '' 

1909 

(AH  males) 

Per  cent. 

22 

51 

78 

92 

8 


9,184 


1,502,823 


1  Statistics  of  Manufacture,  1908.    Boston,  1909.    P.  82. 

»  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1909.    Camden,  1910.    P.  120. 

3  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909.    Topeka,  1910.    P.  10. 

*  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Wisconsin,  1907-8.  Madison,  1909. 
P.  464. 

^  Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies.  C.  P.  Neill.  Washington, 
1910.     P.  85-7. 

^  Report  on  Strike  at  Bethlehem  Steel  Works.  C.  P.  Neill.  Wash- 
ington, 1910.     P.  60. 

^  Annual  Report,  Statistics  of  Railways,  1908-9.    Pp.  34  and  40. 


[210] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 

might  possibly  be  open  to  question;  but  coming 
as  they  do  from  six  sepiirate  authorities,  from 
States  as  far  separated  as  Massachusetts  and  Wis- 
consin, from  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion, and  from  the  inspection  by  the  Department 
of  Commerce  and  Labor  of  the  pay-rolls  of  the 
telephone  and  Bethlehem  companies,  their  agree- 
ment permits  of  but  one  conclusion, — that  these 
seven  reports  give  an  accurate  measure  of  the 
wages  of  adult  males  in  the  industries  of  the 
United  States. 

Turning  now,  to  the  wages  of  females,  the  data, 
while  less  complete,  is  nevertheless  excellent. 
(See  next  page.) 

There  is  again  a  remarkable  uniformity  in  the 
distribution  of  women's  wages  in  these  seven 
reports.  Three-fifths  of  the  women  receive  less 
than  $8  per  week  ($400  per  year),  while  a  vanish- 
ing percentage  of  them  is  paid  more  than  $15  per 
week  ($750  per  year).  Nearly  nine -tenths  of  the 
women  employed  in  these  various  States  and 
trades  are  paid  less  than  $12  per  week  ($600  per 
year). 

Here,  then,  is  a  clearly  drawn  picture, — an 
answer  to  the  question,  "Wliat  are  wages?"  The 
average  wage  statistics  showed  that  the  average 
[£11] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 


CUMULATIVE  PERCENTAGES  OF  FEMALES  RECEIVING  CERTAIN 
CLASSIFIED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS— COMPILED  FROM  REPORTS— 
1908-1910 


Massachusetts ' 

New  Jersey  '          Kansas  ' 

Wisconsin  * 

1908 

1909 

1909 

1906-7 

Classified  Weekly 

(21  years  and 

(16  years  and     (16 

years  and 

(All 

Earnings 

over) 

over) 

over) 

females) 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent 

Per  cent 

Per  cent. 

Under  $5 

7 
60 
79 

22 
60 
89 

26 
73 

88 

38 

8 

85 

"       12 

94 

"       15 

92 

95 

96 

97 

$15  and  over 

8 

5 

4 
3,599 

3 

Total  employed 

144,935 

68,360 

21,937 

Bell  Telephone      Illinois  Department 

Company 

5 

Stores^ 

Illinois  Factories' 

Classified  Weekly 

1908 

1906 

Earnings 

(AU  females)              (All  females) 

(AU  females) 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent, 

Per  cent. 

Under  $5 

6 

69 

5 

15 

8 

60 

"       12 

95 

66 

94 

"       15 

99 

81 

99 

^15  and  over 

1 

19 

1 

Total  employed 

20,621 

2,556 

2,258 

1  Statistics  of  Manufacture,  1908,    Boston,  1909.    P.  82. 

2  Bureau  of  Statistics.    Camden,  1910.    P.  120. 

3  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  Labor,  1909.    Topeka,  1910.    P.  10. 

*  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Wisconsin,  1907-8.  Madison,  1909. 
P.  464. 

^  Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies.  C.  P.  Neill.  Washing- 
ton, 1910.    P.  294-5. 

^  Report,  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1908.  Springfield,  1910. 
P.  435. 


[212] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

wages  of  adult  males  were  in  the  neighborhood  of 
$600.  On  the  other  hand,  a  study  of  classified 
wage  statistics  shows  that  half  of  the  adult  males 
working  in  the  industrial  sections  of  the  United 
States  receive  less  than  $C00  per  year;  three- 
quarters  are  paid  less  than  $750  annually;  and 
less  than  one-tenth  earn  $1,000  a  year.  Half  of 
the  women  fall  below  $400  a  year;  while  nearly 
nine-tenths  receive  less  than  $750.  These  figures 
are  not  accurate,  however,  since  they  are  all 
gross  figures, — including  unemployment.  They 
should  be  reduced  by,  perhaps,  20  per  cent.,^ 
varying  with  the  year,  the  location  and  the 
industry.  There  may  be  no  general  agreement  as 
to  what  reduction  should  be  made, — but  some 
reduction  is  obviously  necessary.  Making,  there- 
fore, a  reduction  of  one-fifth,  it  appears  that  half 
of  the  adult  males  of  the  United  States  are  earn- 
ing less  than  $500  a  year;  that  three-quarters  of 
them  are  earning  less  than  $600  annually;  that 
nine-tenths  are  receiving  less  than  $800  a  year; 
while  less  than  ten  per  cent,  receive  more  than 
that  figure.  A  corresponding  computation  of  the 
wages  of  women  shows  that  a  fifth  earn  less  than 

^  Unemployment  in  the  United  States.     Scott  Nearing.    Quarterly 
Publications  Am.  Stat.  Assn.,  Sept..  1909.     P.  539. 

[213] 


WAGES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

$200  annually;  that  three-fifths  are  receiving  less 
than  $325;  that  nine-tenths  are  earning  less  than 
$500  a  year;  while  only  one-twentieth  are  paid 
more  than  $600  a  year. 

Here,  then,  in  brief,  is  an  answer  to  that  vital 
question, — "What  are  wages?"  For  the  available 
sources  of  statistics,  and  by  inference  for  neigh- 
boring localities,  the  annual  earnings  (unemploy- 
ment of  20  per  cent,  deducted)  of  adult  males  and 
females  employed  east  of  the  Rockies  and  north 
of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  Line,  are  distributed  over 
the  wage  scale  thus: — 

Annual  Earnings  Adult  Males  Adult  Females 

Under  $200 1-5 

325 1-10  3-5 

600 1-2  9-10 

600 3-4  19-20 

800 9-10  

Three-quarters  of  the  adult  males  and  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  adult  females  actually  earn  less 
than  $600  a  year. 

It  is  not  important  that  the  reported  wages  be 
reduced  by  one-fifth.  The  available  unemploy- 
ment data  indicates  that  such  a  reduction  is  an  ap- 
proximately correct  one,  if,  however,  later  studies 
show  this  estimate  of  unemployment  to  be  excessive 
[214] 


WAGES  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES 

or  inadequate,  a  corresponding  alteration  will  be 
made  on  the  summary  of  wages,  but  until  such  a 
study  appears,  the  answer  to  the  question,  "What 
are  wages?"  is  contained  in  the  above  summary. 


[215  1 


INDEX 


Annual  Earnings,  classified: 

Kansas,  see  Wage  Statistics,  Kansas. 

Massachusetts,    lee    Wage    Statistics, 
Massachusetts. 

New  Jersey,  tec  Wage  Statistics,  New 
Jersey. 

Telephone  Industry,  tee  Telephone  In- 
dustry. 
Average  Wages:  1908-1910,  207-208. 

All  industries,  142-143. 

Building  trades,  155-156. 

Comparative,  142-143. 

Geographical  variation  of,  miscellane- 
ous industries,  153-156. 

Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey  com- 
pared, 136-138. 

Massachusetts,   chief  industries,   135- 
137. 
Influence  of  sex  on,  132-133. 

Methods  of  Computation,  120-121. 

Michigan,  121-122. 

New  Hampshire,  123-125. 

Pennsylvania,  adult  females,  128-129. 
Adult  males,  127. 
Minors,  130. 

Railroads,  see  Railroads. 

Rhode  Island,  125-126. 

Significance  of,  116-119. 

Statistics  of,  144-146. 

United  States,  all  industries,  139-141. 

City  Size,  and   wage  rates,  see  Wages, 
geographical  variation  of,  with  city 


Classified  Annual  Earnings,  tee  Annual 

Earnings,  classified. 
Classified  Weekly  Earnings,  tee  Weekly 

Earnings,  classified. 
Comparative  Average  Wages,  142-143. 
Cost  of  Living,  and  wage  statistics,  5,  7. 

Department  Stores,  Illinois,  wages  of 
women  in,  93-96. 

Earnings,  classified  annually,  tee  Annual 

Earnings,  classified. 
Earnings,  classified  weekly,  see  Weekly 

Earnings,  classified. 

Illinois,  wages  of  women,  in  department 
stores,  93-96. 

Kansas,  annual  earnings,  see  Wage  Statis- 
tics, Kansas. 

Classified  weekly  earnings,  see  Wage 
Statistics,  Kansas. 

Wages  in,  summary,  86-87. 

Massachusetts,  annual  earnings,  tee  Wage 
Statistics,  Massachusetts. 
Average   wages,   see   Average   Wages, 

Massachusetts. 
Classified   weekly  earnings,  see  Wage 

Statistics,  Massachusetts. 
Wages  in,  summary,  58. 
Michigan,  average  wages,  121-122. 
Milwaukee,  telephone  industry,  wages  in, 
90-92, 


[217] 


INDEX 


Minors,  wages  of: 

Kansas,  see  Kansas,  classified  weekly 

earnings. 
Massachusetts,      see      Massachusetts, 

classified  weekly  earnings. 
New  Jersey,  see  New  Jersey,  classified 

weekly  earnings. 

New   Hampshire,    average   wages,    123- 

125. 
New  Jersey,  annual  earnings,  see  Wage 
Statistics,  New  Jersey. 
Classified   weekly  earnings,  see  Wage 
t        Statistics,  New  Jersey. 
Wages  in,  summary,  72-73. 

Ohio,  wage  variations  in,  157-162;  164- 
165. 

Operators,  telephone,  wages  of,  see  Tele- 
phone Industry. 

Pennsylvania,  average  wages,  126-131. 

Railroads,  Wages  on,  average  daily,  174- 

179. 
;     Classified  weekly,  210. 

Geographic  variation,  150-153. 
Rhode  Island,  average  wages,  125-126. 


Sex,  and   wages,  Massachusetts,  36-39; 

132-133. 
Special  Wage  Reports,  Bethlehem  Steel 
Works,  see  Steel  Industry. 
Conclusions  from,  113-115. 
Illinois  Department  Stores,  see  Illinois. 
Telephone    Investigations,    see    Tele- 
phone Industry. 
Value  of,  88-89. 
^  And  wage  distribution,  179-184. 
Specialized    Employments,    and    wages, 

170-174. 
Steel  Industry,  classified  weekly  earnings, 
209-211. 
Wages  in,  108-113. 

[218] 


Telephone  Industry,  federal  investigation 

of,  96-108. 
Milwaukee,   wages  of  women  in,  90- 

92. 
Summary  of  wages  in,  107-108. 
United  States,  wages  in,  96-108. 
Wages  in  leading  cities,  97-100. 

Unemployment,  as  a  factor  in  wage  statis- 
tics, 192-195. 
Causes  of,  194-197. 
Conditions  of,  198-202. 
Extent  of,  193-202. 
United  States,  average  wages,  all  indus- 
tries, 139-141. 
Classified  annual  earnings,  214-215. 
Classified  weekly  wages,  209-213. 

Wage  data,  available,  9,  11. 
Wage  Reports,  state,  methods  of,  16,  18. 
Kansas,  74. 
Massachusetts,  19-25. 
New  JeFsey,  59. 
Uniformity  in,  25-27. 
Wage  Statistics,  see  Average  Wages. 
And  the  cost  of  living,  6,  7. 
Kansas,  annual  earnings: 

All  industries,  85. 

Cars  and  shops,  85. 

Coal  mining,  85. 

Slaughtering  and  meat  packing,  85. 
Kansas,  classified  weekly  earnings: 

All  industries,  77-78. 

Bookbinding  and  printing,  80. 

Brick  and  tile,  82. 

Cars  and  shop  construction,  82. 

Cement,  82. 

Chief  industries,  79-83. 

Coal  mining,  82. 

Flour  and  grist  mills,  82. 

Foundries  and  machine  shops,  82. 

Glass  factories,  82. 

Slaughtering  and  meat  packing,  80. 

Smelting  and  refining,  82. 


INDEX 


Massachusetts,  annual  earnings: 

All  industries,  52-63. 

Boot  and  shoe  industry,  54. 

Cotton  goods  industry,  53. 

Foundry  and  machine  shop  industry, 
65. 

Worsted  industry,  66. 
Massachusetts,  classified  weekly  earn- 
ings: 

Adult  females,  33-35. 

Adult  males,  30-32. 

All  industries,  43-44. 

Chief  industries,  45-49. 

Method,  28-29. 

Minors,  39-42. 
Michigan,  17. 
New  Jersey,  annual  earnings: 

All  industries,  66. 

Chemical  products,  71. 

Machinery,  68. 

Oils,  72. 

Silk,  broad  and  ribbon,  67. 

Woollen  and  worsted  goods,  70. 
New   Jersey,    classified    weekly   earn- 
ings: 

Adult  females,  61. 

Adult  males,  61. 

All  industries,  61. 

Chemicals,  63. 

Chief  industries,  63-65. 

Oils,  63. 

Silk,  broad  and  ribbon,  63. 

Woollen  and  worsted  goods,  63. 
New  York,  14-15. 
North  Carolina,  16-18. 
And  the  standard  of  living,  8. 
State,  lack  of,  14-15. 
State,  scope  of,  13. 

And    unemployment,    »ee    Unemploy- 
ment. 
Value  of,  1-4. 
And  wage  theory,  5. 
Wisconsin,  classified  weekly  earnings, 

185-188;  210-211. 
Wage  System,  development  of  the,  5. 


Wages,  as  an  element  in  distribution,  6. 
Average,  sec  Average  Wages. 
Bethlehem  Steel  Works,  108. 
Classified  hourly,  steel  industry,  109- 

111. 
Classified  weekly,  Illinois,  department 

stores,  93-96. 
Distribution    of,    from    state    reports, 
184-189. 
Railroads,  174-179. 
Steel  industry,  109-111;  179-184. 
Summary,  189-191. 
Telephone  industry,   107-108;    180- 
182. 
Geographical  variation   of,   summary, 
167-169. 
Telephone  operators,  97-100. 
Theory,  147-148. 
With  city  size,  104,  157-162;  163- 

167. 
With  geographic  area: 
Building  trades,  155-156. 
Miscellaneous  industries,  153-156. 
Railroads,  150-153. 
Special  reports,  conclusions  from,  113- 

115. 
Specialized  employments,  170-174. 
Summary  of,  214-215. 
And    unemployment,    see    Unemploy- 
ment. 
Variation  of,  in  steel  industry,  111-112. 
Of  women  in  telephone  industry,  Mil- 
waukee, 90-92. 
What  are,  1. 
Weekly  Earnings,  classified,  Kansas,  tee 
Wage  Statistics,  Kansas. 
Massachusetts,    see    Wage    Statistics, 

Massachusetts. 
New  Jersey,  see  Wage  Statistics,  New 

Jersey. 
Railroad,  see  Railroad's. 
Steel  Industry,  209-211. 
Telephone  Industry,  see  Telephone  In- 
dustry, 1908-1910,  209-213. 
Wisconsin,  210-211. 


[219] 


INDEX 


Wisconsin,  classified  weekly  wages  in,  tee 
Wage  Statistics,  Wisconsin. 
Wages  of  women  in,  91-93. 
Women,  wages  of,  compared  with  men, 
106. 
In  certain  occupations,  105-107. 
Illinois  department  stores,  93-96. 
In  Kansas,  see  Kansas,  classified  weekly 
earnings. 


In  Massachusetts,  see  Massachusetts, 
classified  weekly  earnings. 

In  New  Jersey,  see  New  Jersey,  classi- 
fied weekly  earnings. 

Telephone  industry,  leading  cities,  97- 
100. 

In  Wisconsin,  91-93;  see  Wisconsin, 
classified  weekly  wages. 


[220] 


T 


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By  DELOS   F.  WILCOX,  PH.D. 

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Chapters  in  Municipal  Sociology. 

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Education  and  Industrial  Evolution 

By  FRANK  T.  CARLTON,  PH.D. 
Professor  of  Economics  and  History  in  Albion  College. 

Cloth,  Leather  back,  $1.25  net. 

The  importance  of  general  educational  advance  to  industrial  progress  and  the 
necessity  for  manual  training  as  a  means  of  development  among  the  working  classes 
are  subjects  of  the  greatest  general  interest  to-day.  Professor  Carlton  is  probably 
Qne  of  the  best  equipped  men  in  the  country  to  handle  this  subject  clearly  and 
dwells  especially  on  the  importance  of  a  broader  industrial  education. 


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THE  CITIZENS'  LIBRARY  (Continued) 

The  Outlines  of  Economics 

By  RICHARD   T.  ELY,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 
University  of  Wisconsin,  Editor  of  this  Series. 

Professor  Treub,  of  the  University  of  Amsterdam,  selected  this  text-book,  after 
comparison  with  others  in  English,  French,  and  German,  for  translation  into  Dutch; 
a  translation  into  Japanese  has  also  been  made. 

"The  'Outlines'  contains  splendid  summaries  of  the  subject-matter,  questions, 
suggestive  titles  for  essays,  and  a  bibliography  of  the  best  writers  of  economics." — 
Journal  of  Education. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Agricultural  Economics 

By  HENRY   C.  TAYLOR,  M.S.AGR.,  PH.D. 
Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin. 

The  factors  of  agricultural  production  and  their  economic  properties  are  first 
studied,  then  the  forces  and  conditions  which  determine  the  prices  of  agricultural 
products,  and  the  principles  to  be  followed  in  estimating  the  value  or  proper  rent- 
rate  of  land  and  equipments. 

The  Economics  of   Distribution 

By  JOHN   A.  HOBSON 
Author  of  "The  War  in  South  Africa:   Its  Causes  and  Effects." 

The  Political  Science  Quarterly  declared  this  book  a  welcome  addition  to  the 
literature  of  economic  theory.  "  By  its  critical  as  well  as  by  its  constructive  work 
it  helps  to  force  readers  out  of  the  deep  rut  in  which  Ricardian  formulas  have  so 
long  caused  economic  thought  to  run." 

Economic  Crises 

By  EDWARD   D.  JONES,  PH.D. 
Junior  Professor  of  Economics  and  Industry,  University  of  Michigan 


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THE  INCOME  TAX 

By  EDWIN  R.  A.  SELIGMAN,  LI..D. 

McVickar  Professor  of  Political  Economy,  Columbia  University. 

Author  of  "Essays  in  Taxation,"  "Shifting  and  Incidence 

of  Taxation,"  etc. 

Cloth,  8vo,  $3.00  net;  by  mail,  S3. 20. 


"The  book  is  a  credit  to  American  scholarship  in  that  it  Is  the  best  book  on 
the  subject  in  any  language.  An  intelligent  and  just  system  of  taxation  is  the  need 
of  modern  democracy,  and  this  book  shows  some  of  the  steps  to  be  taken  in  the 
right  direction." — Boston  Evening  Transcript. 

"Standing  as  one  of  the  greatest  productions  in  the  realm  of  public  finance, 
this  volume  is  worth  the  serious  perusal  of  every  student  and  every  business  man. 
To  those  who  wish  an  impartial  and  scientific  presentation  of  a  great  question, 
this  volume  is  undoubtedly  the  best  one  in  the  field.  It  should  be  read  carefully,  and 
perhaps  supplemented  by  other  works,  but  a  careful  reading  will  give  a  great  fund 
of  information  to  any  person.  It  should  be  a  part  of  the  library  of  serious-minded 
students  or  business  men." — United  Banker. 

"It  is  a  valuable  handbook  for  legislators  and  all  concerned  in  public  admin- 
istration."— North  American. 

"A  particularly  timely  volume  which  will  be  eagerly  seized  upon  by  all  those 
who  are  desirous  of  obtaining  the  most  authoritative  information  upon  this  much- 
mooted  question." — Dululh  Evening  Herald. 


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The  Purchasing  Power 
of  Money 

By  IRVING   FISHER. 

A  Study  of  the  Causes  Determining  the  General  Level  of  Prices: 

An  Explanation  of  the  Rise  in  the  Cost  of  Living  between 

1896  and  191 I. 

Cloth,  8vo,  505  pages,  $3.00  net;  by  mail,  $3.18. 


"The  book  is  a  logical,  clear-cut  and  incisive  study  of  the  facts  and  principles 
of  a  question  affecting  the  welfare  of  men,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is 
a  distinct  contribution  to  economic  literature.  Certainly  no  student  or  reader  in 
the  field  of  economics  can  afford  to  pass  it  by  unread." — Boston  Evening  Transcript. 

"A  notably  original  and  suggestive  study  of  the  causes  which  bring  about 
periodic  changes  in  the  level  of  prices." — New  York  Sun. 

"Professor  Fisher  shirks  nothing,  and  his  book,  with  its  thorough  discussion 
and  its  full  appendices  containing  reference  tables  and  complicated  calculations, 
is  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  careful  and  patient  student  of  political  economy." — 
Daily  News. 

"One  of  the  most  important  economic  works  of  recent  years." — Moody's  Maga- 
zine. 

"In  connection  with  the  recent  talk  of  gold  production  as  the  cause  of  high 
prices — there  is  much  of  value  and  illumination  in  this  well-reasoned,  scientific, 
yet  readable  work." — Record-Herald. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGEUES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
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